To Sum It All Up

I once heard an interview with a Nobel Prize winning scientist.  The interviewer asked him to sum up his work in a single sentence.  His response was, that if it could be summed up in single sentence, it would not be worthy of a Nobel Prize.

OK, fair enough.  But those of us who are not Nobel Laureates want to understand, we just need it in a condensed form that we can wrap our heads around.

Many students when faced with the daunting task of reading a classic novel will look for a book summary.  When I was in school "Cliffs Notes" were the go to source.  I did a google search and discovered that they are still around as a web site.  Of course many students think that even the Cliffs notes version are too long and just wait for the movie.

It is said that George W Bush told his advisers to write whatever they wanted to tell them on a single page, and I am sure he is not alone.  In sales they talk about the art of the pitch, getting the customer's attention now.  And of course our elections are mostly a series of 15 second sound bites.  The question is, is this a product of our modern culture or just part of human nature.  Maybe people have always had a problem with the vast and needed a little condensing.

This brings us to the Bible and the teaching of Jesus.  The Bible is a vast work of timeless truth.  One can spend their life in its study and only begin to scratch the surface.  So can you sum it up in a sentence or two?

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

First love God, then love everyone else.  I'm not sure if that really sums it all up.  I will leave that question to the scholars.  But I'm confident that it's a good start.  If we love God and love others we will be well on our way to fulfilling God's purposes in our lives.