By: Amy Cantilina
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.” Matthew 22:37 (ESV)
These words, which our Lord called the “first and greatest commandment,” were first spoken to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6:5, as Moses exhorted them to live pure lives of devotion to God who had rescued them from slavery in Egypt and brought them through 40 years of wilderness wandering at long last into the Promised Land.
It makes me wonder that the people who had witnessed firsthand God’s mighty acts of deliverance should need a reminder to love The Lord.
How much more do we, as New Testament believers grafted into God’s family by His grace, living in a day and a culture in which God’s mighty deeds are rarely recounted if not dismissed completely, need such a reminder?
“I love pizza!” “I love your shoes!” “I love your haircut!” The word “love” in the English language is greatly diluted, and so “loving” God might seem to be a relatively easy task, not worth much thought or effort.
But the fact that this command specified that we should do so “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” makes me pause. How does a finite and feeble human such as me love God with my entire being? Does it mean giving up my existence as I know it to simply sit in a quiet place “loving God,” and doing nothing else?
I believe that “loving God” is manifested differently for each of us, depending on the life circumstances into which God has seen fit to place us. Underlying it, however, will always be a common recognition that God is the source of all things, God’s Word is the ultimate authority on all things, that to love God is to obey His commandments, and that everything we do and say can and should be an act of worship.
To gain and retain a mindset of loving God requires daily and purposeful pursuit of knowing God–through His word, times of quiet reflection and prayer, and fellowship with other believers also seeking to love The Lord. May our first thought as we open our groggy eyes be of Him and His good purposes, may our final thoughts of the day as we rest our heads on the pillow be of gratitude for His grace. It may mean rising a few minutes earlier each morning. It may mean choosing to pick up the Bible or a devotional instead of watching TV at night or reading a novel. For me, it is even as practical as choosing to turn off Facebook and instead click on a scripture memory app when faced with a few minutes of idleness, allowing my heart to “meditate day and night” (Psalm 1) on the law of The Lord.
As this mindset takes root, loving God might mean doing the mundane tasks of motherhood with a heart of gratitude and a view toward eternity. It might be choosing to love and serve our husbands and children joyfully, even when they are being unlovable. It might be choosing to receive the hard things of life with an attitude of humble surrender to God’s sovereignty and trust in His goodness.
As with all human pursuits, this can only be done by His grace and with His help. Indeed, in the words of the Apostle John’s first epistle: “We love because He first loved us.” Just like the father who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus pleaded “help my unbelief,” there is no shame in petitioning “Lord help me to love you. Help me to do it with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength.”
May our Holy30 month be an opportunity for each of to cultivate the habits needed to love Him more dearly.
AMY CANTILINA is an Air Force wife and mom to 4 precious kiddos — two conceived in her womb and two conceived in her heart, coming home to their forever family from China. She is a Jesus-lover, wannabe writer, endurance athlete, Bible study leader, and wears whatever other hats her family’s military lifestyle might bring along. She is being stretched by mothering through a wide range of ages and needs — high school through kindergarten, some with special medical needs or developmental delays.