"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matt 22:37-39 ESV)
Today, our focus is on the Great Commandment to love God. Jesus said that when you love your neighbor it is the same as loving God, which is how we fulfill the Great Commission daily.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matt 28:19-20 ESV)
Jesus has commanded us to teach others how to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind. That creates a dilemma because many people have a hard enough time loving themselves, let alone God and their neighbors.
So, what did Jesus mean exactly? How do we love God? Let's unpack the verses to understand what He said.
The word "love" (Gk: 'agapaó') is the verb of 'agape' which means to love unconditionally and sacrificially by demonstrating it through actively choosing to do what God desires by His power and direction.
Within the world's religions, it is not uncommon to hear that the greatest thing to obtain is faith. Yet, the Great Commandment given by God is not to have faith but rather, to LOVE Him. Faith - in and of itself - is useless unless God's love energizes it. This love command is the foundation of Christianity. The reason God wants us to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind is because that is how He loves us!
God's very essence is love (See 1 John 4:7-10). He has always been love, even before He created human beings. He has always sought to have a close relationship with His children. We were made for this love. The entire story of humanity is wrapped up within it. Love is the energy of life and is why we were created. Love is our eternal destiny.
Christianity is the only religion that sets forth the Creator of the Universe as love. All of creation resounds with the proof that God is love. Within Him is found all the fullness of excellence, beauty, and perfection. He is the author of all that is good in creation. This truth is taught throughout the Bible, beginning with Adam in the Garden of Eden.
When God created Adam, He said, "I will make a partner suitable to you" (Gen 2:18 NIV). God was declaring the hidden purpose of His heart from eternity past. This promise ultimately speaks of Jesus and the Church [you and me] (See Ephesians 5:25-6:1).
God proved He is love by choosing to walk among us and die in our place (See John 3:16). He invites every human being to come to Him, reaching out His arms in tender affection with nail-pierced hands in the purest and most intimate way.
v. The word "all" (Gk: 'holos') is an adjective meaning the whole, entire, complete.
v. The word "your" (Gk: 'su') is a personal pronoun meaning you.
v. "...heart."
The word "heart" (Gk: 'kardia') used in Scripture does not refer to the literal physical organ that pumps blood throughout the body. It is used figuratively for the center of our being, the seat of thoughts, understanding, passions, desires, affections, purposes, and actions that establish who we are within the utmost depths of our being.
Jesus wants us to love Him with all of our sensibilities, affections, emotions, desires, passions and cultivate them constantly with steadfast affection in remembrance of His merciful goodness, kindness, and mercy (see Romans 2:4).
v. "...with all your soul"
The word "soul" (Gk: 'psuché') refers to a person's distinct identity and the seat of personality, perception, affections, emotions, feelings, desires, and will. It is an essence of 'spirit,' which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death.
The word has various meanings in Scripture and is used interchangeably with the word 'pneuma' which is often translated as "spirit" with a minor distinction; "spirit' relates humans to God, and "soul" relates humans to the physical world. The "spirit" is the eternal breath of life bestowed on humans by God, and the "soul" is the life created in the individual. The body is animated by soul and spirit. The "spirit" is not separate and purer than the "soul."
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Heb 4:12 ESV)
The verb translated as "division" is not used elsewhere in Scripture to distinguish between two different things but is always used when distributing and dividing up various aspects of the same thing (see also Heb 2:4; Luke 11:17-18; Matt 27:35; John 19:24).
The point made in the verse is that God's Word judges the thoughts and attitude of the heart and does not mean the soul and spirit are separate as two distinct entities. The Word of God divides soul and spirit to penetrate our innermost parts.
Human Beings are fundamentally a body – the physical aspect of our nature – and we are also a soul-spirit – the immaterial element described in the Bible as either soul or spirit. These two are united together as one person in an inner unity.
v. "..... with all your mind."
The word "mind" (Gk: = 'dianoia') means the desire to thoroughly understand all sides using our intellect, mind, thoughts, and critical thinking.
Jesus wants us to love Him by mentally turning away from the world with all its cares. Instead, we are to turn towards Him by desiring to thoroughly understand all aspects of His character and nature using our intellect and critical thinking. Critical thinking is making reasoned, logical, well-thought-out judgments when learning new information and questioning what we are told with an open and humble heart.
SO, HOW DO WE BEGIN?
We must seek God's face by persevering in prayer for Him to open our hearts to receive those things He wants us to learn at any given moment in time. Jesus told us what to do when we spend time with Him.
"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words." (Matt 6:5-7 ESV)
Every great and intimate relationship is rooted in gratitude and thanksgiving. Instead of just asking for things all the time, thank Him for what He has already given you. Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Like 12:34 ESV). Is your treasure Jesus?
We should think of Jesus more often than we draw our breath and continually thank Him for what he has done, is doing, and will do in our lives. Those who love God are continually communing with Him.
"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." (Psalm 1:1-2 ESV)
"I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!" (Psalm 34:1-3 ESV)
We must close the windows and doors through which our fleshly passions enter, and look to Jesus for meeting all needs. That requires a willing and humble undivided heart. As the hymn by Helen Lemmel says,
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
When you turn your eyes – i.e., your heart and mind on Jesus - the cares of this world slowly dissipate like the early morning mist as the radiant glory of His light fills every dark and foreboding shadow of uncertainty in your life. Jesus must be the goal of every endeavor and desire.
It must be understood that our soul cannot have true knowledge of God through our efforts or by means of any created thing, but only by the working of the Holy Spirit within us "to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil 2:13 ESV). It must be noted that it is the sole responsibility of the Holy Spirit to sustain and keep us guiltless and from stumbling so that He will finally present us blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy. He will never let us die, be thirsty again, leave, forsake, cast out, or drive us away, nor can anything grab hold of us to separate us from His love (See John 4:14, 6:37, 8:12, 10:27-29, 11:25-26; Rom 8:38-39; 1 John 2:1; Jude 1:24; 1 Cor 1:8; Phil 1:6).
It is important to point out that it is most often in times of prayer and worship that the enemy comes with struggles and annoyances to make our minds wander. The truth is that prayer is a weapon you use to defend yourself against the enemy.
DIRECTING THE HEARTS ATTENTION TO JESUS
Brother Lawrence was a lay monk in the 1600s who practiced the presence of God. He wrote:
"I worshipped God as often as I could, keeping my mind in His holy presence, and recalling it as often as I found it had wandered from Him. I found no small pain in this exercise, and yet I continued it, notwithstanding all the difficulties that occurred, without troubling or disquieting myself when my mind had wandered involuntarily. I made this my business not only at the appointed times of prayer, but all the day long; for at all times, every hour, every minute, even in the height of my business, I drove away from my mind everything that was capable of interrupting my thoughts of God."
A.W. Tozer wrote:
"We must break the evil habit of ignoring the spiritual. We must shift our interest from the seen to the unseen. For the great unseen reality is God.
...for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." (Hebrews 11:6 ESV)
...faith is not a once-done act, but a continuous gaze of the heart at the Triune God. Believing, then, is directing the heart's attention to Jesus. It is lifting the mind to `behold the Lamb of God,' and never ceasing that beholding for the rest of our lives. At first this may be difficult, but it becomes easier as we look steadily at His wondrous Person, quietly and without strain. Distractions may hinder, but once the heart is committed to Him, after each brief excursion away from Him the attention will return again and rest upon Him...
While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves--blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do...
When we lift our inward eyes to gaze upon God we are sure to meet friendly eyes gazing back at us, for it is written that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout all the earth. The sweet language of experience is 'Thou God seest me.' When the eyes of the soul looking out meet the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right here on this earth...
Many have found the secret of which I speak and, without giving much thought to what is going on within them, constantly practice this habit of inwardly gazing upon God. They know that something inside their hearts sees God. Even when they are compelled to withdraw their conscious attention in order to engage in earthly affairs, there is within them a secret communion always going on. Let their attention but be released for a moment from necessary business and it flies at once to God again."
There is no quicker or easier way to obtain loving God with all our heart, soul/spirit, and mind than by pure, humble, and continual prayer as we study and meditate daily on God's written Word, the Bible.
Prayer is not a formula of words or a series of desires springing up in the heart -- it is the orientation of our entire heart, soul/spirit, and mind to God in worship and adoration. It is a conversion of our entire being to God to fulfill the Great Commandment and Great Commission.
Let's Pray....
