“And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39 ESV

I’ve recently had Avalon’s Another Time Another Place album playing in my car (in my good old fashioned CD player), and the album includes the song “Basics of Life”. Whenever this song comes on, it serves as a reminder to me to pause and think about the basics of my beliefs and my faith. When life is busy, even if it’s busy with ministry and serving, I can’t lose sight of these basics. 

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Basic #1: Who God Is

Part of my morning time with God includes reading a Verse of the Day email. When verses from Psalms came two days in a row, and they both described attributes of God, it was enough to make me pause and notice the basics of who God is.

“For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.”

Psalm 33:45 ESV

The Lord is:

• upright
• faithful
• righteous
• just
• loving
• “The earth” – the whole world, not just my world

“I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm 18:102 ESV

Psalm 18:1-2 ESV

    The Lord is:

• my strength
• my rock
• my fortress
• my deliverer
• my God
• my shield
• the horn of my salvation
• my stronghold

Pause: But wait! God is. . . 

• creator (Psalm 33:6-9 ESV)
• all-powerful (Psalm 147:5 ESV)
• sovereign (1 Timothy 6:15-16 ESV)
• king over all (Psalm 33:13-15 ESV)

       . . . and He is still all these things listed in Psalm 18:1-2 for me.

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Basic #2: Two Commandments

    “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39 ESV

Wow. Although these aren’t easy commands to follow and live by. But they are, at their core, very basic.

My response to these two commandments:

    “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” 1 Corinthians 13:1 ESV

Check out this song! Basics of Life

What “basics” of your beliefs and faith will you pause and consider this week?

“And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39 ESV