Loving God
“LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, SOUL, MIND AND STRENGTH”
Have you discovered how easy it is to say, “I love God,” but how much more difficult it is to actually live up to those words daily both publicly and privately, particularly if we included the words, “with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? And considering the signs of the times we live in it's going to become even more difficult to follow through on that commandment. Jesus calls this “The most important” commandment on two separate occasions, one in Mark 12:29-30, and the other in Matthew 22:36-37. This, as some might assume, is not only a New Testament command but an Old Testament one too. In fact, Jesus quotes it from Deuteronomy 6:5 which says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength”. So, as far as God is concerned, there is no room here for divided affections or allegiance. In fact, Jesus would even go on to say, “No one can serve two masters” in Matthew 6:24. This most important commandment is what we’ll be meditating upon in this article. We’ll be asking questions like “what does it mean to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength?” “On what basis does God command us to love him?” “How do we make this important commandment a reality in our lives?”