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, NIV 2010*
Jesus said this is the most important commandment. Love isn’t just a feeling. It’s an act of will, a choice. And it’s what God wants most from us: love in action.
We know that outward-only love, the going-through-the-motions action without any heart behind it, isn’t what God wants. Nor is it what our family and friends want. It’s legalism, hypocrisy. Fake.
Gratitude, appreciation, respect, honour, obedience… these can be earned. Even required, by people and by God.
True love is a response to who God is, not to what He does. We can’t give it without knowing Him. But we need to throw our whole selves into it: heart, soul, mind and strength.
Father God, please draw our hearts to love You for who You are, to worship You with all that’s in us. Don’t let us settle for anything less than a growing relationship with You. We love because You loved us first. Teach us to reflect it back to You in abundance, with all our hearts, souls, minds and strengths, knowing it all comes from You.
∞
Because this love needs to be active, here’s Phil Wickham’s “After Your Heart”.
*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.