Mark 12:28-30 One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?" Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'"
God's commandments are like a pyramid. The first, greatest, and most important commandment is the bottom layer that holds up the rest of God's commandments. If we obey this foundational commandment, we will naturally obey the rest of them. Yet this first commandment is also the most easily broken. Often we look at the commandments near the top of the pyramid (such as do not murder or do not commit adultery) and say, "I'm not a very bad person because I haven't done such and such." Yet, if we turned our view to the bottom of the pyramid, how many of us would find a cracked and broken foundation for our self-righteousness? We would find that we have broken the one commandment that is key to all others. And we have broken it often. So if we are to obey God's commandments, we must first learn how to love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength; that is, with every fiber of our being, with all that we are.
