Words of Grace

By Rev. Mahlon Nevel

Jesus had just answered a question asked by a group of Sadducees. When a certain scribe perceived that he had given a good answer, he had a question. He wanted to know what the greatest commandment of all was.

The first of all the commandments is, according to Jesus, to love the Lord with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength.

And when he told the scribe what the second is: to love our neighbor as ourself. There are no other commandments that are greater than these, Jesus added.

What did he think of Jesus’s answer? He admitted that Jesus had answered well by speaking the truth.
When Jesus heard him say this, he told him that he was “not far from the Kingdom of God.”

He was close, but it doesn’t tell us if he received Christ and became a child of God. To all those who receive Jesus, according to John 1:12 become the children of God by believing on his name.

“Almost persuaded, now to believe; Almost persuaded, Christ to receive.”