With "ALL" Your Heart...

(Revised from July 2010, part one)

“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength…” Deuteronomy 6:5

The Lord has impressed this scripture upon my heart several times over the last few years. Jesus says in Matthew 22:37-38 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” So, the first thing that hits me are the words “first” and “greatest”… This is apparently a big deal for Jesus and this scripture should be bookmarked, highlighted and underlined a few times… and maybe even a couple asterisks next to it too! The second thing that sticks out to me is the word ALL. He says it three times so we should make no mistake about His meaning and its importance “… ALL your heart … ALL your soul and … ALL your strength”. It doesn’t say to love him when it is convenient, when it is easy, when you have time, when you want something, when He blesses you or even when you “feel” like it but with ALL of you, ALL the time!! Wow. This is truly a challenging and difficult commandment! As I wrestle with this concept myself, as to how I can possibly do this, and I try to visualize what this actually LOOKS like in my life, I have come face to face with the embarrassing truth of what I have thought was good and acceptable to Him.

“Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.” Psalm 119:2

First of all, do we REALLY know what it means to “love” anyway? Or, have we watered it down to the point of it being more of a “lust” thing or a “make me feel good” thing (the definition of lust being; I must have it now)? We SAY we “love” the Lord but do we really, truly love HIM or do we love what we think He represents or what we think He can give us? For most of my Christian walk I SAID I loved the Lord but then seemed to be content with giving him only 5 to 10 minutes of my time each day with a couple of “help me” or “help them” prayers throughout the week and, if He was lucky, I would throw in a couple of “Thank You”s for good measure. When I am really doing well, I spend a couple hours with Him in the morning and talk about Him with people throughout the day and I even marvel at His amazing creation, singing praises and worshiping Him throughout my day. This is what He means by “all”, right?

“...do not listen to that prophet's words or to that dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul.” Deuteronomy 13:3

But wait, there’s more! His instructions get even better!  He continues by telling us, in this same scripture in Deuteronomy 6, that His “Words” should be written “upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates…”  And in Deuteronomy 11 He say’s it AGAIN “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates…” 

Wow.  These scriptures are so powerful and so “all encompassing” and, if I am reading them correctly, they are basically saying we should literally be “consumed” with Love for HIM so much so that His words and praises are upon our hearts and lips at every possible moment in our day… Wow. (I did a little research and found several other scriptures saying about the same thing so this was not a momentary whim or passing fancy, this is definitely an important thing to God. See below this blog for more scriptures)

“…But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night...” Psalms 1:1-3

When I try to wrap my mind around what that scripture would look like in my life, I think about what “True love” might look like to most of us. The best description that I can come up with is when you first meet someone and “fall in love” and your mind and thoughts are consumed with that person all day long. You write love letters, you think about him/her every spare moment. You can’t think at work, you can’t sleep or eat. You can’t wait to talk with them and, when you are away, you look forward to when you can be with them again. And when you are with them, you wish time could stand still so that you can be in “that moment” with them for all time. You pour yourself and your time into that person and begin to build a relationship with them that will last the rest of your life. When I think about loving Him in those terms, I think that is as close to “all” as we can get! I feel like that is the LEAST that God is asking of us... of ME.  Do I love Him so much that all else fades away and is set aside for Him? Do I wake up in the morning with Him as my first thought and go to bed praising and thanking Him? Do I speak His words to my grandchildren, and are they written on my heart and do I proclaim them and His greatness to all those around me? Sadly my answer to that is a disappointing “no”… but do I WANT to be there?  In this case, my answer is a resounding “YES”!!  But, Lord, how do I get there??!!

“The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul, so that you will live.” Deuteronomy 30:6

I love what Oswald said in his February 8^th devotional, “The Cost of Sanctification”:

“Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God's point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God's purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? … Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God.”

Father, prepare my heart for the cost of sanctification! Help me to set aside everything that is NOT of you. YOU are my first “Valentine”. I am able to love You because You first loved me! You are SO passionate about Your relationship with me that You have done and given everything possible to enable me to have a “love” relationship with You. Please help me and show me how to truly LOVE You with ALL my heart, ALL my mind and ALL my strength! I thank you most of all that, even though I don’t or am not able to love You with ALL my heart, mind and strength, you still love me, at every stage of my journey to know You. Your, struggling to love, daughter, Linda :)

(Stay tuned for part two: The American Dream)

More scriptures:

“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.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates…” Deuteronomy 6:4-9

"And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you except to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, and to worship the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul?” Deuteronomy 10:12

“So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today--to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul-- … Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them…  Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many…” Deuteronomy 11:13-22

“Only carefully obey the command and instruction that Moses the LORD's servant gave you: to love the LORD your God, walk in all His ways, keep His commands, remain faithful to Him, and serve Him with all your heart and all your soul." Joshua 22:5

“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" The most important one, answered Jesus, "is this: '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 mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:28-31

“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ”Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"  What is written in the Law? He replied. "How do you read it?" He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "You have answered correctly, Jesus replied "Do this and you will live." Luke 10:25-28

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” Psalms 1:1-3