Deuteronomy 6:5- “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…”
I saw a man wearing a tee shirt with the scripture from Isaiah 54:17:
No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.
Isaiah 54:17 NKJV
That was on his front, and of course, since it’s a favorite scripture of mine, I secretly cheered! But as he passed me, on the back of his tee shirt was “God’s got my back!”
The next thing in my spirit was, “But does He have your heart?”
Interestingly, the Lord can get our attention from simple interactions in this life. That stayed with me, and I wanted to share it. If the Lord asks a question, it’s best to see if you can answer it. Was the question about the young man, me, or people in general?
Speaking to the children of Israel, Moses declared that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy 6:5 NKJV
Can I be honest with you here? I love God dearly, but I’m not sure that He truly has all of my heart. After all, I have a husband, children, a job, family members, and friends that crowd my mind and heart. So how can I really say that God has all of it when I have to share it with so many others? Why would Moses even say this? Is it even possible to love the Lord with all of my heart?
Someone stopped Jesus and asked Him, testing Him, “Which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus replied,
“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
Matthew 22:37 NKJV
In both the Old and the New Testaments, we are told to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts! What does that even look like? Can I just say that I am not completely sure, because I am not going to say that I am there! But oh, how I want to be!
Now any reader of the Word of God can tell you that we are not to compare ourselves to one another, so I won’t. But for this example of loving the Father, I will use Jesus.
What did this undivided heart of love look like in Jesus’ life? Well…
*Jesus absolutely enjoyed spending time with God. He prayed so much that His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. Not how to perform miracles, not how to teach the word, but how to pray! I know a heart totally bent towards loving Him is a heart that is in communion with Him through continuous prayer!
*Jesus fully obeyed the Father! He said whatever God told Him to do, He did it! As a matter of fact, one soldier said to Him:
For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
Matthew 8:9 NKJV
The centurion recognized that Jesus lived a submitted life to the Father! Obeying Him is a given, but a heart that is totally His not only obeys but does so willingly.
I know obedience is a sign of love because Jesus said:
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.
John 14:15 NKJV
Therefore, Jesus demonstrated His love for God, by obeying Him.
*Jesus wasn’t interested in fitting in with the social scene or religious groups of His day! If anything, He was constantly challenging their thinking about everything as He shed Light on how God sees and operates! He never tried to fit in, He never whined about being different, and He never cared what they thought of Him. He loved God with all of His heart, and nothing else mattered more than that! He was sold out!
*Jesus knew He was fully loved in return! At His baptismal, God spoke from the heavens:
And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:17 NKJV
He trusted in God’s love and operated from that love! And because of His undivided heart toward God, there was nothing that God wouldn’t do for Him because He was so pleased with Jesus!
No one mattered more to Jesus than His Father! No one’s opinion mattered more to Him! And no one’s will, not even His own, mattered more than the Father’s!
When I compare my heart to Jesus’ heart, I truly fall short! But the good news is because I have Him as my example, all I have to do is follow Him! As I grow in my relationship with Him, I know that there is no greater place of joy than His Presence. When I spend time in prayer, I feel a peace that nothing else can give me. I don’t always pray the same way at the same time, but spending time in prayer with the Father is important to me! I know it is not always easy to keep your prayer life from becoming rote and vain repetition, but it is so necessary for a vital life with Him!
Learning to fully obey God the first time is an area of challenge for us. We have to not only be committed to fully obeying the logos (written) word of God but those promptings that say: forgive her, apologize to him, don’t open your mouth, give her this, go visit that sister, go to church, encourage that person….these words from Him have to also be obeyed. This has always been a challenge for me because I have to step out of my comfort zone and interact sometimes with strangers. I typically stop and say, Is this the Lord, or is this me? What if I’m wrong, and God isn’t nudging me to do this? Or something on this line. But yet, I make great efforts to do it anyway. And time and again, it has been something that person really needed. Not to mention the joy it gives me to be used by God!
Not fitting in!! We are a peculiar people, so that should be no surprise to anyone that there will be times when we will not fit in. I’m not talking about being weird people, but different in all that we do! It’s sometimes hard for Christians to be different without being weird. It is also hard sometimes to accept that we can’t always fit in. To be the only Christian, to be the only one standing up for Jesus, can get lonely! To be the only one not drinking, not cursing, not sleeping around, not cheating, etc., can cause others to ostracize you. But when Elijah complained about being the only one, God told him that He had 7,000 prophets reserved for Himself! So you are not the only one! Maybe you need to be the one bold enough to stand out for Him so that others will follow!
Lastly, understanding the love that He is giving us! Paul prayed:
That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17-19
God’s love is so complicated that we can spend the rest of our lives learning to love Him completely. Loving God will never be a bad investment, so there’s nothing to fear in His love. It’s worth the time it takes to develop our love relationship with Him so that we can be rooted and grounded in His love!
Does He have my heart? Yes! Is it fully engaged? It’s the thing that I want more than anything else! And as I live my life, I live for it to be an expression of His love for me and my love for Him! I want to be as confident about Him having my heart as I am about Him having my back! Does He have your heart? Wonderful Jesus!
Wonderful Jesus! 