Jeremy Hoover

In this video devotional, I look at how we need to find balance between our personal spiritual disciplines and our action towards others in Jesus' name.

In Mark 12:28-34, Jesus taught a teacher of the law that the greatest commandment is to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. After several interactions with religious "leaders" who were not leading the people, Jesus finally broke out some teaching about the teachers of the law--they're hypocrites who neither love God nor love their neighbor.

They don't love God because they love themselves and their self-importance more. They don't love their neighbor because they'd rather abuse widows than serve them.

In contrast to them, in Mark 12:41-44, is, of all people, a widow! This widow loves God with all her heart, soul, strength, and mind. She gave a tiny fraction of what the rich were giving, but Jesus says she gave MORE THAN they gave.

How could she? Because she gave sacrificially, from her heart. It wasn't about the money. It's never about the money. She gave a gift of her heart because of her love for God.

We avoid hypocrisy by focusing on our love for God, seeing where that love leads us, and then loving him.

Sermon: How to Love God Without Hypocrisy (Mark 12:38-44)

We need to watch out for the hypocrites and their destructive behavior and attitudes and avoid being one ourselves by focusing on our own actions.

In this audio devotional (approx. 2.5 minutes long), I examine what Jesus meant when he told the teacher of the law in Mark 12:34 that he was "not far from the kingdom of God."