This is the fourth and final post in a series on how
we are commanded to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. These four ways need to be understood in order
to love the Lord well.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
(Mark 12:30)
We are commanded to love him with
the things that make us strong. We
are to love Him with our accomplishments, our influence and with all of our physical
capacities. I like to look at it this
way, what am I good at? What is my strength?
What am I capable of?
To love the Lord with all our strength means to love Him
with reckless abandon out of simple devotion.
In more practical terms it means we are to love Him 110%. To give
it your best shot. If we fall down, to
pick ourselves back up and keep going forward. To love Him with all our might. Loving Him with all our strength is to love
with all our resources, our abilities and our time. To fully love Him with all that we are, with
all that we think, and with all that we do.
We are to serve the Lord thoroughly, being His hands reaching
out to our world. We love Him by giving
a cup of cold water to those in need. (See Matthew 10:42) By
feeding the poor and by laying hands on the sick. By lifting our hands in worship. By playing an instrument or by writing an
article. But in all we do, working with
excellence.
The eyes are the gateway to the heart. We are made to gaze on His beauty. David wrote, “One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of
my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”
(Psalm 27:4) We are to fix our eyes on
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. (See Hebrew 12:2) Our eyes come in contact with so much during
the day, yet we love Him well when we see what pleases Him.
Jesus said many times, “If anyone has ears to hear,
let him hear.” (Mark 4:23) Kind of a
funny statement but a powerful one. What
He is saying is listen to be transformed. Listen to be changed. Listen for more than information, listen to
gain revelation. Listen to others share
their story; hear their thoughts and hear their pain. Walk away from
gossip, slander, backbiting, and negative discussions. These are all part
of loving Him with all our strength.
Where our feet take us on the journey of life says a lot
about how we love the Lord. Jesus laid
it out when He said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew
28:19) The great commission is all about
going. When we go and serve, go to
church, go to a friend in need, go the extra mile, we are loving Him with all
our strength. Be led by the Spirit and
let Him lead you into amazing places and divine opportunities.
And finally, may the words we say bring glory to the
Lord. When we edify, encourage, comfort,
honor, support, and bring life to others (See Proverbs 18:21) we create opportunity
for them to discover God’s kindness. We
get to love Him by declaring praise and worship to the Lord. Also, when we boldly share our faith with
others (See Ephesians 6:19) and bring them into a relationship with God and
when we instruct, coach, and counsel others, it all counts in loving the Lord
with all our strength.
What a privilege we have to love the Lord with all our
might, with a reckless abandon expressed in a sold out life. I think of Psalm 84:2 where the writer lays
out his heart’s cry, “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the
LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” The New Testament equivalent is found here in
Mark 12:30, to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.
Loving God with all our strength requires submission to
His leading and us being built up stronger through His Word for the purpose of
overflowing with His love to show His character to others. If we give God 110% of our focus, He will make
us stronger than we can imagine. The
strength we receive from Him allows us to humbly love and faithfully forgive
others and even ourselves, regardless of deserving it.
We are here to love God with all that we have, replacing our own
desires with reckless devotion and taking the next step God calls us to take.
Can God change
your life?
God has made it
possible for you to know Him, and experience an amazing
change in your own life.
change in your own life.
Discover how you
can find peace with God.
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