Love the Lord your God

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.

-Mark 12:30

So much could be said concerning this verse and others like it; but a simple question is this: do I love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength? Is my desire that everything I do be done in the name of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:12)? This ties in closely with 1 Corinthians 10:31, which says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”.

As children of God, we are a people who have been redeemed. We are not our own, for we have been bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Our hearts are now God’s. Our souls now belong to the Lord. Our minds are now His possession. Our strength is now for His purposes. All of who we are is now to be used by our Maker for His glory.

We are to present all of our desires, affections, imagination, and might in love to the One who has loved us from eternity past. Our worship is to submit all of who we are to the service of the King to be used for His glory. This is only done through the power and love that He bestows upon us.

If only we could fully understand the beauty of this!

If only we could fully understand the joy and freedom of this!

Praise be to God that He offers forgiveness for when we foolishly lose sight of how worthy and wonderful He is. I am so quick to set my affections and my joy too heavily upon lesser things! I am so quick to lose focus on the highest of joys: our Savior! It is, sadly, too easy to let my mind wander into worthless pursuits. I am so quick to pour my strength and passion into that which is not of the Lord.

God has demonstrated a love beyond measure to us; how could we not strive to give Him all that we are? The Father sent his only Son to die and rise again so that we could be forgiven. How could we not willingly and freely give ourselves to Him in love?