Today’s readings from Exodus 34–35 and Matthew 22 invite us to consider what truly belongs at the center of our lives, and how that center quietly shapes everything else. When faith is lived over time, priorities are revealed not by what we say matters most, but by what consistently holds our attention, devotion, and energy. Loving God and loving others is not presented as one value among many, but as the grounding posture from which everything else flows.

In Exodus, God patiently renews His covenant with His people and draws them back into a way of life shaped by His presence. Rather than forming them through a single dramatic encounter, God continues to work through instruction, patience, and shared responsibility, inviting the community to live attentively with Him at the center. The movement of the passage reflects how formation often happens slowly, through repeated faithfulness rather than sudden transformation.

In Matthew, Jesus responds to division and testing by returning to the heart of the law. Faced with competing agendas and hardened categories, He refuses to rank rules or elevate arguments. Instead, He presses past the surface and names love as the central posture that holds all obedience together, challenging assumptions about what truly defines faithfulness.

Together, these passages invite us to sit with what we are centering our lives around, often without realizing it. They ask us to notice what has slowly taken priority, what has shaped our patterns over time, and how God may be gently calling us to return again to what truly matters most, without forcing resolution or demanding immediate change.