Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength

How Shall We Love the LORD?

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22;37). Mark 12:30 adds strength and is quoted from Deut. 6:5 which is part of the shema ( Hebrew for "hear" —Deut. 6:4).

I am sure we have heard of or read this verse many times. But have we really stopped to meditate on what this Scripture is commanding us to do? The use of the various terms is not meant to delineate distinct human faculties, but to underscore the completeness of the kind of love that is called for.  

"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 might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when your rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates ( Deuteronomy 6:4-9). 

We are called to demonstrate in obedience to God's law in our daily lives with unreserved, wholehearted commitment expressed in love to God. This relationship of love for God can not be represented in any other material way as with idols. 

O, how we have failed. Yes!, If we are truly honest, failed to keep God at the forefront of our lives. The state of the world is living proof.

Lord, I come to you with a humble heart. I ask that you forgive me when I sin and fall short of your glory. Forgive us for not teaching our children to diligently follow you. For our conversations should start with you as the subject from the time we rise until we lie down to sleep. O, may we hear Your word and do what is commanded of us. To love the LORD our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. To keep you as frontlets of our mind so that we do not sin against you. May we seek you with all our hearts. Thank you for Jesus Christ our LORD and Savior who has taken away the sins of the world. It is in Jesus precious name I pray, amen..