Loving God

We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

(1749-1832)

I've spent hours wrestling out answers to my questions about the commandment to,"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment" (Matthew 22:37-38). Why the breakdown? Why do we have to love him with our hearts? Our souls? Our minds?

Our forever faithful God answers our questions and teaches what it means to love him with everything we have. He even made a promise to that end in Psalm 21:2. He grants the desire of our hearts and does not withhold the requests we make. But for him to be able to answer us, we need to spend some time with him listening.

After spending time in prayer with him and thinking through the breakdown of the heart, soul, mind and strength, the Holy Spirit reminded me of a verse I have memorized—Romans 5:8. This passage reveals the greatest commandment is not a one-sided command from God to us, for it is written:

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”
(Romans 5:8 KJV)

Incredibly the greatest commandment applies to both God, the creator and to us, the created! Revelations like these cause a response to God. God regularly works this way—he speaks and we either respond or reject what he says. We respond by obeying his word the best way we know how. We reject by not allowing God’s word to move us into action, which inevitably leads to hearing impairment. How do you respond to his voice, the word of God?