Many of us are asking, “What one thing can I do that will make the biggest difference?” Maybe the answer is not as complicated as we pretend. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.” Matthew 22:37-38 (NKJV)
If we are serious about doing one thing that matters, alignment with the first and greatest commandment is essential. Everything else is dross compared to our relationship with God. To love God is the first principle that leads to life. We must love God first and then our spouse. We must love God first and then our children. We must love God first and then our neighbors. We must love God first and then ourselves. This one thing “loving God first” can change a life, a home, a community, and a nation. To love God acknowledges that He is there, we are not Him, He can be trusted, and He is worth knowing.
Cultivating a deep love for God is simple but not easy. He does not keep Himself or His Kingdom agenda hidden from those who desire to know Him, yet He reveals Himself only to hearts that trust and seek Him. This is the order of things. This is the way. Rejecting God is the problem now and has been since eternity past. Instead of relying on absolute truth and the one thing that could bring about human flourishing, mankind has chosen to follow its own broad road that leads to destruction of individuals, families, communities, and nations.
Rejecting God in our private lives and public squares has created a vacuum filled with death and confusion. There are nearly endless combinations of opinions about what is wrong with the world, but there is only one way to fix the brokenness brought about by original sin. We must turn to God and accept His precepts. It is not God who has moved away from us. We have both ran away and drifted from Him. We have forsaken our first love. Yet, this one thing will change our individual and collective
futures if we remember and return home to Him. The porch light is on. He is waiting like a good Father. Let us return to, learn of, and love the One who first loved us. This one thing will give life to everything else. This one thing will make all the difference.
– Richard Harwood from The Guild
