Love the Lord your God

 Christ in all the scriptures

Love the Lord your God   Deuteronomy 6

"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might"-Deut. 6v5.

They are encouraged to fear Him, now they are commanded to love Him.  Jesus said that this is the first and great commandment-Matthew 22v37-38.  The One who has come from the realms of heaven, who is equal in all respects to the Godhead, underlines this as the priority for all people, love toward God.  The God who gives us everything, what does He want from us?  "And now Israel what doth the Lord require of thee, but to fear the Lord, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul"-Deut. 10v12.  This is more important than any other command.  This is to put Him at the very centre of our affections.  What this means to us individually, can only be determined between Him and the individual.  All other legitimate loves are to come secondary to Him; all loves which are offensive to Him must be put away. 

Love the Lord with everything you have and are

Matthew 22v37 "Jesus said unto him thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind".

Mark 12v30 "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; this is the first commandment".

Luke 10v27 "And He, answering said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind. and thy neighbour as thyself".

Our relationship to God is more than that of servant to master, it is a love relationship such as a wife to a husband, or husband to wife, or children to parents or vice versa.  We know that any love we have for God, is because He first loved us-1st John 4v19.  And how did God love us?  It was not in any half hearted way, it was not with any form of reserve or limitation.  This incomparable thought is summed up by Jesus Himself in John 3v16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son...".  God's love for us is measured by whom He gave (His only begotten...in Spanish, su unigenito), the dearest of His heart as is stated throughout the sacred writings.  He gave Him, (more dear than the angels of heaven, or the entire created universe), the darling of His bosom (read Proverbs 8), for us without reserve.  To create the universe He only had to speak!  To save humanity, He gave His all!

No wonder we are compelled to love Him, above everything else.  Putting all the relevant scriptures together, He speaks of our heart, of our soul, of our mind, of our strength.  Before we consider what all that means, we must focus on the word all.  All our heart, all our soul, all our mind, all our strength.  The hymn puts it, "How can we give a lesser sacrifice, when Jesus gave His all?  At this point we could ask ourselves, How much do I love Him, really?  Any love I have for Him is small in comparison to His love for me.

Love Him with all your heart    Affections   Hearts which are the seat of our emotions/affections, (Proverbs 4v23, "...out of it are the issues of life"); hearts that were filled with all kinds of evil and selfish behaviour (Mark 7v21 and Matthew 15v19-30); hearts that were "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked"-Jeremiah 17v9).  Perverse hearts have become purified hearts (1st Peter 1v22) through the new birth.  Our hearts have been sprinkled from an evil conscience (Hebrews 10v22), enabling us to worship freely.  Sanctified hearts are to "Sanctify the Lord God in our hearts" (1st Peter 3v15), that is our renewed hearts are set apart for Him.  Our emotions/affections are toward Him.

Love Him with all your soul   Motivation/Driving force   The soul is what makes you, you. It is the deep seated person within, which dictates thoughts/actions.  Scripture refers to "the reins of the heart", that which motivates the inner thoughts and intentions.  Others, beholding us are incapable of discerning this, even we, ourselves betimes don't know, only God truly knows our souls.  "Jeremiah 17v10, "I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings".  The Psalmist asks the Lord to try (put to the test) his reins and his heart"-Psalm 26v2.  Jesus, in Revelation 3v23, "All the churches will know that I am He who searches the reins and hearts and I will give to each one according to his works".  The reins are deep within, the driving force that causes us to be what we are.  Just like the reins that control the movement and direction of an animal, so the inward soul directs our emotions and affections and pursuits. From the depth of our beings we are to love Him.  Self gratification is replaced by pleasing the Lord, self glorification gives way to glorifying God.

Love Him with all your mind  Intellect    That amazing function, the human brain!  Storing and processing billions of data in a lifetime.  (They say the brain transmits around 1500 commands to the rest of the body every minute!)  All we hear about are moans concerning the loss of memory, and perceived lack of intellect, when we should be praising God for the wonder of our minds.  It is what we choose with which to fill our minds that is the problem.  The bible speaks of different things that occupy us, and the best use of this wonderful function.  Paul speaks in Philippians 3v19, of those who "mind earthly things", whose horizon is this life and the things of it only, when God has given us an unlimited universe, and an unsearchable God to enthral us forever.  In salvation God has transformed us by "the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12v2; 2nd Corinthians 5v17).  Metaphorically speaking, why remain a caterpillar when we can butterflies flying around in limitless space?  We are called to occupy our minds with the eternal, not only the temporal.  Our minds are enlarged which seek the immortal and eternal God.  How can we love Him with our minds?  The Psalmist has the answer.  Many of us read and study God's word out of habit, with a sense of duty (and we have all been there).  How about approaching it with passion, with fervour, as the Psalms suggest.  How about making God's word our lifetime delight, the occupation of the blessed man?

Psalm 1v2 "And his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night".

Psalm 119v14 "I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches".

Psalm 119v18 "Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law"

Psalm 119v35 "Make me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein do I delight"

Psalm 119v47 "And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved"

Psalm 119v162 "I rejoice in thy word, as one that findeth great spoil".

Love the Lord with all your strength   No half measures, no part timers; a full commitment with everything we have.  Paul wrote, "...present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service"-Romans 12v1.  Holy just means your body is set apart for His use.  The Laodiceans were said to be insipid, lukewarm, unacceptable to Christ.  The Old Testament adage is relevant today in this connection, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might"-Ecclesiastes 9v10.

Hear the words of wisdom, ""My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord; and find the knowledge of God"-Proverbs 2v1-5.

Next we shall consider what this may mean in practice.