Mark 12: 30-31

Christianity
1

What does Mark 12: 30-31 actually mean?

I can start by explaining my own understanding.

When you answer, explain what you’re using love to mean. I use the word Love as an _action_ love is a thing you _do_ to others.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

Everything we want and do and need and feel should further God at all times. God should be the only thing we want and need and feel anything about. When it doesn’t, we sin.

‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

I interpret this to mean we must love all people the exact same way as we would love ourselves, with the same intensity or (easier) greater intensity.

Hobbies that we do for our own personal enjoyment and things we enjoy but do not furnish to others would violate both elements as I am understanding them. But one can be a Christian and do things they like without considering the needs of everyone? I am trying to understand but I am very confused.

In a world where there’s resource exhaustion, overpopulation in some areas, and climate change due to manmade issues, I do not see how to conclude any other action that satisfies both items at once other than a specific action.

2

I interpret these verses as talking about things on a whole-life scale. As in, prioritize God in your life, and give others equal priority to yourself overall. I don’t believe it means that “God should be the only thing we want and need and feel anything about” and that we can’t personally enjoy anything. I think it would be crazy to expect any human to be physically able to do that.

Things that would look like my interpretation of these verses would be praying daily and drawing strength from God, thanking Him for all He has provided (the first mandate), and doing one act of service or donation for every personal unnecessary expenditure or fun self-indulgence. Not that that’s necessarily easy, but it’s sure a lot more doable than what your brain is telling you.