Love the Lord Your God

Deut. 6:4-9

"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."

I love this passage because it expresses the depth of commitment that God wants from me. First, He begins with the command to love Him and not just obey Him. Obviously, I could obey someone and still have animosity in my heart for them. But with God, the order is reversed. He is concerned about my loving Him, about the condition of my heart and soul, and about the condition of my resolve. He wants me focused on Him in my heart. To me the heart speaks of what I really value, of what I treasure, and of what is a priority in my life. "For where your heart is, there your treasure is also." The next phrase involves the soul. I think the soul refers to that part of me that is spiritually alive and reborn. In my soul, I must let love be the driving motivation of all that I do. How do I get this love? "That according to the riches of His glory, he grants me to be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit in my inner being." Why am I to be strengthened in my inner being? Eph. 3 says so that I may comprehend the love of Christ in its breadth, length, height, and depth, and so that I might be filled with all the fullness of God. I must seek Him for this love. Finally, I must love with all my might. Might in this context really means the strength of my resolve to surrender and be dependent on God to work in me. Even though it doesn't sound like it, it takes resolve to surrender. It takes might to willingly wait for God to work. What God desires of me should be what I desire for me. All of this does not involve my actions but my attitudes, motivations, and feelings. This command concerns what goes on inside of me where no one else can see except for God.

The next verse in this passage takes the heart, soul, and might into the realm of action. Not only are my children to be taught diligently, but I need to talk of this command when I sit in my house, when I walk by the way, when I lie down, and when I rise up. What else is there? My action of obedience to this love is all consuming. It is my total conversation and my life style. It must be synonymous with who I am. Taking it a step farther, God then says that I need to bind these words as a sign on my hand and as frontlets on my eyes. When I think of the hand, I think of all the actions of the hand which can be either an instrument of love and tenderness, or an instrument of abuse and cruelty. But, if my hands are bound by this command of love, then they would be God's vessel to express His love. When I think of the eyes, I think of the sins of the eyes, that is impurity in what I watch or even read. The frontlets on my eyes would block these temptations and even forestall my fall into these sins of the eye. Finally, He says to write them on the doorposts of my house and my gates. Now all that is done, said, and thought is surrounded by the love of God. My entire living space reflects my love for God. With this command in such plain view, my response to it is constantly under scrutiny. Either I will disobey by not loving God as I should, or I will obey and be who he want me to be. Wow!

Father,

Give me Your strength in my inner being so that I might love You with all my heart, soul, and might. Let what is in my heart be transparently reflected in all that I do and say, even in how my home looks. Help me to let Your love permeate who I am and what I treasure.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Praise Note: I just returned from speaking at a women's retreat in northern Idaho. It was a blessing beyond human imagining. God worked so marvelously! I thank Him that He continues to work patiently with me shaping me into the woman that He desires me to be. What a great God I serve! Praise His name.