A group of men went deer hunting. After setting up camp, they separated into pairs to do their hunting. Bob and Joe paired up to hunt together, and Joe killed a huge 10-point buck. Bob then volunteered to help him drag it back to camp.

Halfway back to camp, though, Bob became lightheaded and passed out from exhaustion. At that point, Joe had a decision to make. Should he leave Bob behind and get the deer into camp or leave the deer behind and get Bob into camp? After mulling over the two options, he decided to leave Bob behind and get the deer into camp.

When Joe arrived at camp the other hunters were all very impressed with his deer. Eventually, however, one of them asked, “Where’s Bob?” Joe answered, “Well, I had a tough decision to make, and in the end, I decided that no one would come along and steal Bob.”

Priorities. We can certainly get them out of whack, can’t we? But what is the greatest priority? Here’s what Jesus had to say about that:

Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38, N.K.J.V.)

Now, I realize that Jesus also said the second great commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. (By the way, Joe failed that one completely concerning Bob.) For the purposes of this post, though, let’s just stick with the first commandment. Notice how all-encompassing it is. You are to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind!

This means that your love for God should permeate every facet of your being. It should course its way through your heart, soul, and mind. It should influence all your desires, actions, and thoughts. It should reach way down to the deepest “you” and affect everything that flows up from there.

This commandment can rightly be called the greatest commandment because if you truly keep it, keeping all the other commandments naturally follows. You make the one big decision to keep this commandment and that takes care of thousands of other decisions concerning all the other commandments. As a result, any Christian who truly keeps this first commandment will inevitably have his/her priorities in correct alignment.

Take the necessary time, Christian, to reflect upon how you are doing at keeping the greatest commandment. Ask yourself, “What are my priorities these days? Is everything I’m doing molded, shaped, flavored, and seasoned by my deep love for God?” And if you don’t like your answer, then make the necessary changes today. Nothing in your life is more important than you loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Again, if you will keep that commandment, everything else about your life will just naturally come into line.