How Do We Learn To Love God With Everything We Have Got?
Good Morning Friends,
Today we ask what may be the most important question you will ever be asked to answer. William Shakespeare, whose birthday is acknowledged to be today hints at it this way: “Doubt thou the stars are fire. Doubt that the sun doth move. Doubt truth to be a liar, but never doubt I love.” The question’s answer is beautifully unique to each of us and uniformly simple. Answering the question helps us to discover, if we are honest, our purpose. Perhaps it began with the rules set out in the first five of the Ten Commandments. But there is more…so much more for ultimately it is not about rules. So, the question I am asking today may remind you of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43, How Do I Love Thee? But ultimately it is so much more than a list. So as you contemplate that Jesus gave everything in love, here is today’s question: How Do We Learn To Love God With Everything We Have Got?
Scripture: And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
1 John 4:7-16 (NIV)
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
John 15:9-13 (NRSV)
Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us.
Ephesians 5:1-2 (NRSV)
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
Deuteronomy 6:5 (NRSV)
One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’–this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.
Mark 12:28-34 (NRSV)
We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 (NRSV)
Message: Jesus said we need to do four things to love God completely. Let’s break this down as Jesus did. It starts with the desire of the heart. Here we have to face the reality that the deep currents of our emotions steer our lives. We are captivated by all sorts of activities in seeking fulfillment. So, discern what occupies your time. Determine what it is that motives your actions. Understand what you truly value and treasure. Now aim to make Jesus your treasure. Value God. Spend time with God. To love God with our soul has to do with being devoted and faithful in lifestyle and behavior. This is about making godly choices. We are to be obedient to the Spirit, Word and Truth. We are to live humbly because we are all sinners. To love God with all of our mind ultimately requires us to think supernaturally. We are to reason. We are to seek knowledge. We are to remember the past and triumph over it in Christ’s truth. But then we are to fix our imagination on what is honorable and right with a love that releases us to the possibilities of living in faith, creating something outside the box. Now loving God with all our strength is counterintuitive. Here to allow the power of the universe to flow through us we have to admit we are weak. Friends, spend some time today learning to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Discover for yourself what it means to love God. Today’s scriptures invite us to love God in all things…to realize that our hearts are a battlefield but we need not be a casualty. The challenge is actually learning to love God and after that learning how to love each other and permitting others to love us. For learning to love is the prize. Where God is, love is. Where love is, success is.
Pray that we rejoice in the reality that we love God because He first loved us. Pray we pursue God. Pray we read scripture. Pray we grow and adjust. Pray we learn to trust and to love God and seek to know Him more each day.
Pray we delight in the Lord. Pray our affection for God is captured in the choices we make. Pray we pursue a life that honors God in our attitudes and speech. Pray we reach with a creative mind to connect with something that glorifies God. Pray God’s strength flows though us. Pray we have more faith to love God, then love ourselves so we might learn to love others. Pray we realize that if we have figured out how to love God, then we need to then learn how to love our neighbors. Pray we love God with our hearts, souls and minds.
Pray we love God above all things. Pray we realize that we cannot love God if we do not show love to our neighbors. Pray we love the truth and are obedient to the call to love God. Pray that the more we love God the more we will love His Word. Pray we internalize the truth and rejoice when it is applied in our lives and shared in love. Pray we learn to love people enough to notice their pain and love God enough to want to bring people to His love.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 