We seem to be a people very skilled in arithmetic. Oh, we would not see it that way, and we might even say we are not good in math. But I beg to differ.

Let’s start with addition. Don’t you find that we’re always adding to our list of essentials, making more and more things seem necessary all the time? What was once enough no longer is. The term “less is more” is a recognition of that and a call to return to something simpler.

And boy, are we ever good at taking away. If the truth doesn’t quite suit our needs, we just overlook a fact or two and we’re looking good once again.

Multiplication? Well, that’s just glorified addition. It’s cipherin’ on a grand scale! But division, now that’s not just taking away many times over. It draws lines. It separates and categorizes and causes all sorts of trouble. It creates everything from minor squabbles to world wars.

So this got me to thinking about laws, specifically God’s laws. He started out just saying one thing, but when people couldn’t handle that, He had Moses write down 10 more. Then there were a few books written to explain how to live out those 10 essential things. This was not overkill. This was necessary. But here’s the thing: Some folks got all tangled up in the particulars of the law and they forgot why the laws were written in the first place. Then, instead of thinking for themselves and applying a few principles to their lives, they became more concerned with the fine points.

Enter Jesus.

Jesus has such a beautiful way of boiling it down. You know what He said? He said the most important thing we can do is to love the Lord our God with everything we’ve got.

That’s it.

And when we do that, we will love other people just as much as we love ourselves, which is really quite a bit.

That is the sum total of what God wants of us. It’s all about love. We must not take away from what God said, nor should we add to it. If we do things because of love, it’s love. If we do even good things without love, it’s meaningless. And when we love God, the rest comes naturally.