Read Mark 12:28-34
There are three words translated “love” in the Greek
language: eros, phileo, and agape. In this passage, the word is agape – to choose to care and prioritize
what is best for the recipient of that love.
The foremost command is to choose to love the Lord. We are to do so with all our heart, soul,
mind and strength. Each of these is a
distinct choice.
To love the Lord with all our hearts is to love Him
with genuine affection. Often there is a profound feeling of love for our God. There
may be a consuming passion of eros or
the sweet heartwarming feelings of phileo. When these are present, love flows freely,
and it is easy to choose to love the Lord. His love overwhelms us. We love Him because
of His incredible love for us. (1 John 4:19) Time spent with Him keeps that
fire burning.
However, to love the Lord with all our hearts is to
choose to love Him no matter what feelings do or do not fill our hearts. Sometimes there are no feelings. Spiritual
blahs often result from physical, mental and emotional fatigue. We allow life’s demands to keep us from recharging
time with the Lord in worship, conversation and His word. Returning to these,
especially in the absence of feelings, is choosing to love the Lord with all of
our hearts. It is giving Him our hearts
to fill with His love, so we have something to freely give back to Him.
Our soul makes each of us a unique individual,
distinct from any other human, living or has lived. It is the very essence of your
being. To love God with all your soul is loving Him as only you
can. It is choosing to make Him your God
in this moment and situation, and opening your life for His Spirit to
fill and flow into and through every aspect of who you are.
Choosing to love the Lord with all of our minds
requires giving Him our attention. It is setting our minds on things above, not
solely on the demanding things of this world. (Colossians 3:2) It is engaging the mind of Christ, which we
have been given when were made a new creation in Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16; 2Corinthians 5:17) All of our minds
involves all we know and understand. When
we take time to recall these to mind, our love for the Lord is recharged. But, to love the Lord with our entire mind is
to also love Him with what we don’t know and understand. It is choosing to love
Him when we don’t understand why. It is
choosing to love Him in the depth of our confusion. It is choosing to love Him and hand over our
anxious thoughts, fear-amped imaginations and myriads of unanswered questions. To love the Lord with all our minds is to be
open to His truth, wisdom and perspective. It is asking: “Can I think this way,
have this opinion, entertain this imagination … and thoroughly love God at the
same time?” If not, loving Him is taking that thought captive and realigning it
with the love and thinking He is worthy of. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
Loving the Lord with all our hearts is about where we
place our affections, all our soul is about where we direct our adoration, and
all our minds is about where we fix our attention. Loving Him with all our strength is about
allegiance – submission and lordship. Choosing to love the Lord with all our
strength is giving Him our all. It is
about priorities and pursuits, what fills the calendars and the do lists. It is
what we can and cannot do; what we have and don’t have. This love shows up in
both attitude and actions. Even if a person cannot move a muscle, he or she can
choose to love the Lord with all his or her strength. It is the choice of simply loving the Lord
with all we are, here and now.
The foremost commandment is this: choose to love God! Day-by-day, moment-by-moment, we need to make
that choice. The result will be a life defined by loving Him.
Making It
Personal
“Foremost” means it is the most important thing to
God. What does that mean to you that the most important thing to Him is that
you choose to love Him?
Choosing to love the Lord is the ultimate act of
obedience. What does choosing to love
God mean to you?
In an honest self-assessment, what aspect do you find
the most difficult: loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind or
strength?
Philippians 2:12,13 tells us that God is actively
working in us to “will and act according to His good purpose.” What does it mean to you that His Spirit is
there to help you choose to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and
strength? Are you accessing the help He
offers?
What impact would (or does) choosing to love the Lord
have on your current situation or circumstances?
