Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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.’ 

Mark 12:29-30

My small group has been studying “Detours” by Dr. Tony Evans (highly recommend). In the video portion of this week’s lesson (Week 5), Dr. Evans noted that every test from God really only has one question:

Who do you love the most?

When he first made the statement, it seemed too simple to be true. Then, I started thinking about the familiar Bible stories that are about testing:

• Abraham (Genesis 22)
• Esther (Esther 4)
• Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3 and 6)
• Namaan (2 Kings 5:1-17)
• Peter (Matthew 26:69-75)
• The rich man (Mark 10:17-31)

In each of these tests, I saw the common thread:

God was asking them, “Who do you love the most?”

Your son or me? Your lifestyle or me? Your king or me? Your reputation or mine? Your life or me? Your possessions or me?

Sweet friends, in reflection, I’m pretty sure my entire past year has been one big test, like a capstone project for those of us in academia. I’ve described it to you before as dismantling a foundation and building a new one and as peeling away layers of worldly identity to reveal my true identity in Christ. Today, I can see how each step of this season’s walk was also an effort in answering the question:

Who/What do I love the most?

• My career or God?
• My degrees/titles or God?
• My reputation/position or God?
• My family’s financial comfort or God?
• My need for security or the One who truly secures me?
• My place in God’s ministry or God Himself?

Oh friends, simple as they seem, those have been hard questions to answer.

I imagine that many of them apply to you as well. I imagine too that you, like me, want to answer them all quickly with “God. I love God the most.”, but when we stop to really look at our attitudes and actions, at how we invest our time, talents, and treasure, we may see that our desire to pass some tests exceeds our current effort, ability, or maturity to do so.

We have great intentions. Our test-ready, fully sharpened #2 pencil is hovering over the bubble for “God”, and on some questions we can fill in that bubble, but we find ourselves skipping over others, wishing God hadn’t put them on the test or that He’d give us a scale instead of two absolutes.

And dear heart, that is why, even though every test really boils down to the same question, God still tests us with one question at a time. That is why some seasons seem like one big, long testing session. God wants to make sure we can answer one “Who do you love the most” with His name before He presents us with another choice and asks again, “Who do you love the most?”.

Each time we are able to answer “God” in truth, God promotes us to the next step in our walk, to the next season in our lives, and – once there – He reveals another area of our lives to us and asks again, “Who do you love the most?”.

And beloved, take peace in knowing that our God is not unaware of our struggle with that question. Even our precious Savior, God Himself made flesh, Jesus, faced the same question in the garden when He said to the Father,

““My Father! If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39)

Jesus passed the test by choosing the Father’s will over His own. Jesus loved the Father more than His own life and because the Father loves us, Christ gave up His life for us (Philippians 2:8). Jesus chose to love God most and in choosing to love God most, chose to love us as well.

Beloved, whatever test you’re facing today, however complicated it looks, it really is as simple as “Who do you love the most?”. God knows you want to answer with His name and He knows exactly the lessons you need to develop your ability and maturity to do so. He’ll keep lovingly teaching you until you’re ready. All you have to do is make the effort. Choose to show up each day and engage in the lesson. Choose to keep taking the test until you are able to complete it.

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