Charlene Thompson

Give Him a Little TLC.

I’ve been a member of St. Alban’s for over 20 years.I especially enjoy fellowship with other members, serving food to hungry LSU students, serving on the altar guild and as a greeter. I’m also currently a member of the Advisory Committee.

In Mark 12: 28-34 one of the scribes asks Jesus which commandment is the first of all.  Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’  The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Click here to read the appointed scripture for Friday in the Third Week of Lent.

Devotional

How do we love with all our heart and soul and mind and strength?  Do we love God enough?  Is God happy with us and does He feel loved by us?  If we think about romantic love, we might often THINK about the person who has our attention.  Is our mind focused on God enough the way it might be in a new romance? Do we seek his face in all our thoughts, and include Him in all our doings?  Are we thinking about and caring for our neighbors as ourselves? Continuing with the romantic love analogy, after thinking a bit about how someone we love makes us feel, aren’t we then moved to LEARN more about them?    Don’t we want to know all about their past, their family, friends, their values, hopes and plans for their lives?  If we want to know more about God, we have plenty to go on in the Bible that paints a picture for us of a loving God - a God who gives everything to us – even himself, who offers us grace upon grace even though we don’t deserve it.  After we think and learn about someone we love, aren’t we then moved to CARE for them - to nourish all there is in our hearts and savor it for our own pleasure?  God needs our care, which we can give by having a relationship with Him - in prayer – by taking all our troubles to Him, all our supplications, all our praises.  Next time we wonder if we are loving God enough – let us think about giving Him a little TLC – Think, Learn and Care the way our hearts and souls and minds were made by the very God who loves us and created us for His own pleasure.