Loving God with All our Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength - Part I

Mark 12:30-31

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." NIV

What does it mean to love God with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength? How do I express that devotion to God on a daily basis? How can I be sure that I am loving God with all that I have? How will I know that God is pleased with my devotion?

This command is from God who is all knowing, all powerful and all present. He is not limited by space and time, like we are, and He expects this command to apply to all of the people of this planet regardless of race, culture, location, era, social status, age, etc. This being the case, the devotion to God must be expressed by the adherence to universal principles, and values that cannot be restricted by human limitations.

What does this translate into? What are universal qualities that each human possesses, which they can use to devote themselves to God in a wholehearted manner? In the next few articles, we will consider these few.

Loving God with all of our Heart.

Every person, regardless of their differences has a heart, both physically and spiritually. On the physical level, the heart is the center of the body, and sustainer of life giving blood to the entire organism. On a spiritual level though, we understand having heart as the ability to choose who we give our love, affections, commitment and devotion to. As that devotion grows, then our passion grows, and our love allows us to sacrifice our very lives for what we love most. In essence love translates into sacrifice, where our selfishness gives way to our self-sacrifice motivated by our passion for the thing we love most.

Therefore, everyone can choose to give their affections, and devotion to someone else, by committing to that person their loyalty, in terms of time, effort, resources, etc. and devote themselves to serving another to the point of self sacrifice. This is the definition of whole heartedness.

How does one express the whole hearted love of God? By, again, expressing it in terms that are not limited by human differences. To seen an example of this we will look to the Bible for the answers:

Gal 5:22-24

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. NIV

Col 3:12-14

12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. NIV

2 Peter 1:5-8

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. NIV

Rom 12:9-13

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality . NIV

Rom 12:1

12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship . NIV

All of the qualities above are expressions of love that are not limited by human differences. In other words they are universal, and therefore qualify to be the defining expressions of a whole heart toward God.

Also all of the scriptures above describe a love that is based on spiritual principles that originate from our hearts. Though these qualities may be more natural to some more than others, it is our choice to live out these principles that demonstrate our love for God. For example, if my spouse, or my child, does something to anger me (I know this never happens, but bear with me), I have the choice to respond. Will I respond in love, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control, humility, compassion, etc.? Or will I give in to my sinful nature which wants me to respond in anger, malice, frustration, revenge, and impatience? The choice we make demonstrates our wholehearted commitment and love for God. What I believe God is waiting to see is what our choice will be.

Distractions to the wholehearted expression to God

Though there are many things that we do to help us in the wholehearted expression of God, such as: prayer, reading our bibles, going to church, giving contribution, sharing our faith, encouraging, teaching and admonishing one another; the truth is that these things are not universal, and therefore cannot be the full expression of love for God. Though they are helpful, they are a very limited expression of the wholehearted love of God.

For instance, there are those who cannot read their bible because the government has restricted all access to biblical literature. There are also those who cannot tithe because they have nothing to tithe, living on pennies a day that barely feed their family. Or there are those who are restricted from going to church on a consistent basis because of their profession, or circumstance (the doctor who is on call, the emergency medical technician, the police officer, the soldier stationed in another country, the prisoner in solitary confinement, etc.); or who have an unfortunate physical limitation that makes it an impossible to attend anything. The list goes on and on. Though these individuals are limited in their ability to fulfill the supportive acts of wholehearted devotion (reading bible, going to church, tithing, etc.) they are fully capable to express the fundamental principle expressions of the love of God, namely worship, love, joy, humility, compassion, kindness, etc.

What we must do is not be distracted from the most important biblical principles that fully express our wholehearted love for God by replacing it by limited, superficial guidelines, that though help us, can never replace a true, wholehearted devotion to God. As the Bible says:

Mark 7:6-8

6 He [Jesus] replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites ; as it is written:

"'These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

7 They worship me in vain;

their teachings are but rules taught by men.'

8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." NIV

Parenthesis and italics mine.

1 Cor 13:1-3

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal . 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. NIV

Col 2:20-23

20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21 "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? 22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence . NIV

Therefore let us be careful not to " Major in the Minors" by focusing our attention and efforts on temporary and superficial expectations that we put on ourselves and on one another. If these are the greatest expression of our relationship to God, then we will live a life driven back and forth between the seeming heights of spiritual joys to the depth of spiritual despair; driven by our emotions, our sinful nature, and the temptations that come from Satan and the world. Worst yet, as Jesus said, our worship will be in vain, and we will never make it to heaven. Rather, let us truly worship God wholeheartedly, in Spirit and in truth by holding to true universal spiritual principles that express our self-sacrifice and are wholly acceptable to God. Only then can we have the confidence, and the conviction that we are pleasing to God and that we will one day wear the crown that God will give us on the Day of Glory.

Tips to expressing a whole hearted devotion to God:

1. Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize: To prioritize is to give something more of our attention, time, and effort over something else. We need to put the fruits of the spirit our priority by spending time learning, understanding and practicing the expression of self-sacrifice, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, humility, compassion, hospitality, etc. , with God and others on a daily basis.

2. Accept that truth: We need to accept that church, fellowship, teaching and admonishing, tithing, sharing our faith etc. are only tools to help us fulfill the fruits of the spirit. When we relegate these things to what they are: tools and resources God has given us to help us fulfill his spiritual principles, we will realize that these things are only a means to the end of truly glorifying God. Then we will take them off the pedestal we put them on, and realize that the act of doing these things do not mean anything, except give a better chance at really becoming more and more of what we need to be.

3. Pray for change: The bible does inform us that only God can change the heart, and we need his help to soften our hard hearts so that we can grow and keep in step with the Spirit of God. As the Bible says:

Ezek 36:26-27

26 I [God] will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. NIV Parenthesis and italics mine.

4. Use the Bible positively not negatively: The bible can be used for many things, such as positive things like: growing in knowledge and understanding, exposing us to the truth, being exposed to godly examples, and deepening our conviction. Or it can be used in a negative way, such as: helping us prove our preconceived ideas, supporting doctrines that are based mostly on manmade guidelines and expectations, and justifying our actions based on a few handpicked scriptures taken out of context. Obviously, the glory of God will only be achieved by avoiding our sinful nature's tendency to live out the negative, but rather persevere and pursue the positive. Only then will we be able to fulfill the sacred principles that God has given us, many have died to provide for us, and that Jesus ultimately sacrificed his life for.

To God be the glory, Amen.