Loving God

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 

And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God 

with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."

 This love that Christ is speaking about is a personal love, an intimate love, a relational love. This love grows out of our knowledge of Him and is basic to our relationship with Him. 

 

To love our God with all our heart, soul, and mind is an unfettered love, a love without restraint, a love without hesitation. It is a full-on frontal embrace without reservation and without self-consciousness. It is a love that fully engages the object of its love. It is a love that knows it is accepted and a love that knows it is safe. Therefore, it is a love that trusts and a love of confidence; and, as such, is a love of commitment and a commitment that entails and engages our total person. 

 

This is a love that brings the fullness of joy; the deep and abiding joy that in and of itself is a source of strength. This joy is not subject to circumstance, but seems to thrive in the worst of circumstances. It is a joy that cannot be shaken, because its foundation is a trusting and confident love involving the entire person, soul, heart, and mind; and the object of this love is Himself immovable, unshakeable, unspeakably good, eternal, immortal, unchanging, and our soul knows it very well. 

 

Let us journey on, let us press on, to know our God and our Lord better…more deeply and more completely. It is in knowing Him and growing in our knowing of Him that our love for Him grows ever stronger and deeper; and in this and through this our lives are enriched and we experience the blessing of abundant life.