Deuteronomy 6:5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
I'm looking at each of these separately today. "With all your heart" In a world where I am continually pulled in all directions and I am busy with the hustle and bustle of daily life, I think I can get caught up very quickly and not use my whole heart for loving God. I maybe justify that by saying that those things I am loving have been given to me by God and so, therefore, I view it as an extension of loving God. I guess there would be some truth to that, but my barometer for whether or not I am loving the gift or loving God is how tightly I am holding onto that gift. If I have a death grip on the gift from God, my love is not an extension of my love for God. It is me giving a part of my heart to love, rather than being an outpouring of the love of God in me. "With all your soul" maybe seems a little easier to do because I see my soul as the eternal God-connecting piece. It's easy to love God with all of the part of me that He has complete control over anyway. "With all your strength" is a little more difficult to grasp. For me it is surrendering all I can do, the skills I have and the talents I've been given, in order that God may be the strength in my life, not just the source, but the actual strength that is in me. It is a journey to love God with all of our being. But ah, what beauty to behold in the moments when we love God with all of our heart, soul, and strength and we get a glimpse of heaven!
I'm looking at each of these separately today. "With all your heart" In a world where I am continually pulled in all directions and I am busy with the hustle and bustle of daily life, I think I can get caught up very quickly and not use my whole heart for loving God. I maybe justify that by saying that those things I am loving have been given to me by God and so, therefore, I view it as an extension of loving God. I guess there would be some truth to that, but my barometer for whether or not I am loving the gift or loving God is how tightly I am holding onto that gift. If I have a death grip on the gift from God, my love is not an extension of my love for God. It is me giving a part of my heart to love, rather than being an outpouring of the love of God in me. "With all your soul" maybe seems a little easier to do because I see my soul as the eternal God-connecting piece. It's easy to love God with all of the part of me that He has complete control over anyway. "With all your strength" is a little more difficult to grasp. For me it is surrendering all I can do, the skills I have and the talents I've been given, in order that God may be the strength in my life, not just the source, but the actual strength that is in me. It is a journey to love God with all of our being. But ah, what beauty to behold in the moments when we love God with all of our heart, soul, and strength and we get a glimpse of heaven!
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