Of all the commandments, which is the most important? The most important one, answered Jesus, ‘is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’

Mark 12: 28-31

My youngest daughter enjoys taking tumbling class each week. I watch as her coach works on building her core muscle strength and her balance. All the exercises and skilled techniques are designed to build up her strength so that one day she can perform a somersault or a backhandspring. My daughter cannot perform these amazing moves until she builds up her muscle strength necessary to achieve these great skills.

Just like a gymnast builds up strength to be able to move and jump amazingly across the floor, we as Christians need to build up spiritual strength. How often we spend time in God’s Word and pray to Him determines how strong we are in our faith.

God is asking us to love Him with all our strength. One of the strongest men in the Bible was Samson (Judges 13). God set him apart from birth to bring deliverance to His people . However, Samson compromised his faith and turned his back on God’s commands and lost his amazing ability. This lack of discipline caused heartache to Samson and his family. Thankfully he gained his strength back one last time to help save the Israelites, but the consequences of his sin were costly.

My daughter must continue to stay in tumbling class in order to achieve her goals. As Christians, we must also stay disciplined in God’s Word in order to stand firm against the enemy’s attacks.

Dear God, Help me to rely on your Word to build up my spiritual strength.

Charity O