34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matt. 22:34-40

In Matthew 22 and Mark 12 Jesus communicates that all of the commands in the scriptures can be summarized by two directives: to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength,  and to love your neighbor as yourself.  Most commentators would agree that the second command in context, was emphasized for the purpose of revealing that genuine love for God must include genuine love for people.  But there is much more to this passage than just this one simple truth. I think the second command might have also been intended to highlight the first, revealing that there is more to loving God than just loving people. That loving God is more than being whole heartedly dedicated to doing ministry.  That rising early or staying out late to attend a meeting at your local church might be important but isn’t in and of itself accomplishing the first command! God wants us to whole heartedly love Him. To have relationship with Him (2 Pet. 1:3). To have hearts that burn with passion for Him. He wants us to be a people that pursue Him with everything that we are: with all our hearts, with all our minds, with all our souls, and all our strength.

The repeated word “all” both convicts and intrigues me! The Greek word can also be interpreted as “completely or entirely”.  In other words,  Jesus is commanding me to be completely focused on one thing,  loving Him.  It is then, in the context of this type of relationship that we will most naturally fulfill His command to love people. The second command is second for a reason;  it’s a byproduct of enjoying the first. We love God, and out of the abundance of His love we learn how to love the people around us.

Therefore our most accurate response is to: 
1) Humble ourselves and call out to God for help, for it is by God's help alone that we might enjoy real relationship with Him (Phil. 2:13).
2) Systematically eliminate activities that undermine our relationship with God. In saying “yes” to God we learn to say “no” to all that keeps us from God (Heb. 12:1-3) (In this we must not become religious or legalistic, character change takes time).
3) Set aside generous time daily for personal encounters with the living God.
The question here is not “are you having a quiet time.” But are you loving, are you pursuing God with all your heart/mind/soul/strength!! There are many who have quiet times and yet never really meet with God. Devotional time is not about just reading through the bible, memorizing truths, or praying through prayer lists. The religious leaders of Jesus time did all these things, and yet they ended up being the very ones who condemned and crucified Christ. They missed it. . .and we will also miss it if our Christianity doesn’t ascend above our human effort. God wants genuine relationship with us: for us to hear His voice, to feel His presence and to know His ways. He uses the Bible, meditation, prayer, fasting, etc. as the means to move us closer and closer to Him.

Jesus’ disciples were not known to be well trained, or educated men. But they were known as men who had been with the Savior. We will never truly know God or know how to worship God without making time to be with God.