Susan LaffertyThe commandments given are plain. Straightforward.
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your strength, and with all your mind,’
and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’.”
Luke 10:27
Love the Lord with all that I am. Yes! And love my neighbor. Of course.
But, uh, by the way. Who is my neighbor?
Someone else’s surrender will not do. David knows this.
Thank you, Araunah, but “I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” (2 Samuel 24:18-25)
He buys the threshing floor, the oxen. For a price. Then builds an altar and makes the offerings to God.
Each of us must consider the cost of following Christ. And someone else’s surrender will not do.
In the realm of heart and soul,
You ask for all.
Hands open,
I give the
fragmented,
flawed,
incomplete all
that I know.
You receive.
Tenderly. Welcoming
broken parts,
scattered pieces
of a repentant,
believing
heart.
You save the sin-sick soul.
