Love The Lord Your God. I Will Live It!
Text: Matthew 22:34-40
“But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” nkj
They come at Him with quite a serious question: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
His response comes directly from the Old Testament book or Deuteronomy 6:5 ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
What an all encompassing statement. Think about it: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” WOW! What a pledge. We hear deep love expressed as “I love you from the bottom of my heart” or “with all my heart”… but what about this?
So if this is the way we are to love God, and we say we believe it…How do We LIVE it?
Let’s take a look at each statement and try to break it down into livable pieces. We must understand that in the Greek, as with most languages, there is some crossover in the use of these three words, but we will do our best to cubbyhole items for our clearer understanding.
You Shall Love The LORD Your God With All Your Heart
The soul and heart are very difficult to separate. Even in the original language we have very similar descriptions of each. Let’s try to separate them in this way.
The heart is the middle, central or inmost part of anything, even the inanimate. It is the fountain and seat of the passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavours.
So what does that mean? How does that translate into LIVING IT?
I read a statement by a Bible commentator named Clarke. I found it very poignant. Let me read it for you: “He loves God with all his heart, who loves nothing in comparison of him, and nothing but in reference to him.”
We must be passionate about Jesus.
With All Your Soul
Very difficult for us to separate the heart and soul, but let’s try this. The soul would be, for our discussion: “the WILL – the choice. The part of me that follows through with my thoughts and heart desires.”
So what does that mean?
Barnes, a Bible Commentator, points us in a direction that says we would be “willing to devote our lives to God’s service; to live for Him, and to be willing to find what He says and to listen and follow what He wants.”
Clarke, another Bible Commentator said that, “He loves God with all his soul by employing life with all its comforts, and conveniences, to glorify God.”
With All Your Mind – Our understanding, our thoughts
So what does that mean?
Barnes – paraphrase
To submit the intellect to His will. To love His law and gospel more than we do the decisions of our own minds. To submit all our faculties to His teaching and guidance, and to devote to Him all our intellectual capacities.
Clarke – paraphrase
He loves God with all his mind who applies himself to know God, and his holy will. He banishes from his understanding and memory every useless, foolish, and dangerous thought, together with every idea which has any tendency to defile his soul, or turn it for a moment from the centre of eternal repose. In a word, he who sees God in all things thinks of him at all times having his mind continually fixed upon God, acknowledging him in all his ways who begins, continues, and ends all his thoughts, words, and works, to the glory of his name: this is the person who loves God with all his heart, life, strength, and intellect.
These thoughts are reminiscent of the words of Paul who tells us to “Pray without ceasing”.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
This type of love is based on esteem rather than spontaneous natural affection. Therefore, it is fitly used of the Christian’s love to God and man, the spiritual affection which follows the direction of the will. It is a CHOICE.
I Believe the Bible says to Love The Lord Your God and I Will Live It!
Blessings,
Pastor Brent.
He is Risen!
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