WHAT does it mean to love God with "all your heart"? In Mark 12:30 it tells us emphatically:
"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your HEART, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment."
Since this is an all important question that we ask ourselves, we need to find a clear answer.
Jesus was recorded to having said these words in Mark 12, Matthew 22, and Luke 10. Of course, Jesus was citing the 'Shema,' which is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Briefly speaking, this verse means that God wants us to love Him with our WHOLE BEING.
We may think of our heart simply as the seat of our emotions. But in the Bible, our heart is more than that; it’s composed of our emotions, our will and it can even dictate our mind and conscience.
Once, the Lord God told Moses, "Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!" (Deut. 5:29)
That powerful emotion that the heart controls also directs our affections and desires. Our affections are deep currents of life that steer our direction, our sense of being, and what we value most. Think of them as a rudder of a ship that literally directs it. That's why the heart is an all-important issue.
As Matthew 6:21 reminds us: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.”
To love God with your heart means to love God with your intentions, feelings, and emotions. We show this when we keep His laws and commandments which is a reflection of God's love to us.
He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him." (1 John 2:4-5)
Acknowledging God, praising and thanking Him with all your heart, may be easily shown when things are going well. But this is just one side of the heart issue, how about when things aren’t going so well? ALL your heart means loving Him at ALL times. Even when God seems quiet. Even when He says, "Wait". And even when he says "No". And, yes, even when bad things are going your way. This is because God wants to prune our hearts to become pure.
"Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith..." (1 Tim.1:5)
God created us with a heart so that we will love Him wholly and absolutely. Today, however, our hearts desire many things beside God. And this is where we need a tempered, purified and 'circumcised' heart in order to please God.
"But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God." (Rom. 2:29)
In order for the heart to love God completely, it has to treasure Him supremely above all else.
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“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts...” --Hebrews 10:16
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