‘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.’ Matthew 22:37,38
Love the Lord your God! This is the heart of the gospel message for humanity. This commandment was given by God many times in the scriptures, which we read in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua. Here again in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ Himself said to the Pharisee that the greatest of the commandments is to Love the Lord.
The first thing we want to understand about this commandment is the use of the terms - heart, soul and mind/might. Loving God must naturally begin within the heart; because our heart is the source of everything we do. This earnest desire to love Him, cannot remain only as an inward feeling, but be expressed outwardly and be put into action. These internal and external aspects of love can be seen in the words- heart, soul and mind. Also the repetition of the word ‘all your’ brings out the wholeness of love we must render towards our God.
We ought to love the Lord our God because:
- He is worthy of the highest regard and all the love we can give Him
- He demonstrated His love for us on the cross
- He created us to love Him
The Bible says in Psalm 91, “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.” This is the heart of our Lord and Savior. Let us today faithfully come back to the first love towards God and glorify Him all through our lives. ‘Oh Lord! help us to love Thee, more and more. Amen!’
Amen!
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