Out of 66 books, 1188 chapters, and 31,175 verses in the Holy Bible, it all boils down to this:  “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”  Galatians 5:6b

Take a moment and allow these words to sink deep into your mind and your heart.  Meditate on their meaning and grasp the magnitude of their importance.  Essentially, this statement tells us that if we are NOT expressing our faith in God through our love for others, nothing else we are doing really matters. 

Wherever you find yourself in life, God has specifically placed you there for a unique purpose that only you can fulfill. In essence you are on a mission from God each and every day of your life to express your faith through acts of love. This expression of love can take many forms:  kindness, respect, appreciation, involvement, time commitment, sharing, patience, giving, caring, or friendship.  Whether you’re a business executive, clerk, teacher, nurse, care taker, house keeper, bus driver, waitress, stay-at-home-mom, retiree, grandparent, student, etc.., you are an integral part of the body of Christ.  Imagine the difference we could make in an untold number of lives if each of us went about our days expressing our faith through love.

You can be totally filled with spiritual lessons, perhaps you can even quote verse after verse from the Bible, but if you are not expressing your faith in Jesus Christ through your outpouring of love for others, nothing else matters.

Tape this verse to your bathroom mirror, next to your bed, or on the dashboard of your car so that you can start each day with one main focus concerning the only thing that counts.  In fact, this is such a short statement that you could easily memorize those eleven words and use them as a filter for  your thoughts and a framework for  your actions throughout each day.

Essentially the only thing that counts is a summation of Jesus’ response to the question, “Which is the most important of all the commandments?”  Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”  (Mark 12:28 – 31)  Love God, and express that love to your neighbor…it’s that simple.

 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  James 1:22

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, Galatians 3:23

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3