Know the Lord Your God
Have you ever loved someone or something with ALL your heart, soul, mind and strength? It would seem to be an all-consuming task and one that would require an exhausting amount of energy.
We could argue that we come close to this standard when we relate to our spouses, family and children. However, this type of devotion still seems impossible to do all of the time.
Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus declares this as the most important commandment.
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘… 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 commandment is this: “‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31 NIV)
A number of questions regarding this commandment come to mind. Some as fundamental as:
What is love?
What does it mean to love?
How do we love with our all?
What is meant by the heart, soul, mind and strength?
What does it mean to love an all-powerful God? Is it different to loving a human being?
All the above questions are noble undertakings and worthy of scriptural study. I won’t attempt to answer them but will propose another question – Why would we love God?
Sure, it is a command but commands invoke obedience or rebellion not love. So why would we love God? Well, why do we love anyone?
Fundamentally, we KNOW the individuals we love. It is impossible to truly love God until we know Him. True, we can go through ceremonial motions of devotion (privately or publicly) but this is just a form without power. Without genuine love it is all nothing.
How do you know God? God is found in the scriptures. Search the scriptures and you will find nuggets of thought finer than gold or silver.
Jesus prayed for us to know God now as this gives us a taste of things to come in the future.
“Now this is eternal life: that they KNOW you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3
The scriptures tell of God’s goodness, power, wisdom and love. Please do not take my word for it but study for yourself and experience what gems He reveals to you through His word.
