Jesus said to them “you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” Matt 22:37 (NKJV)
This scripture can be quite intimidating… Love God with everything – all of yourself, all the time, every moment, every day, in every way. Thats HUGE – and personally, quite overwhelming. I don't know about you, but I find it challenging to love my own family the way I should, at times, let alone God Almighty.
In our human and western way of thinking, we tend to filter everything through ‘task' glasses. We read verses such as this one and want the three steps to practically being able to Love God with all our heart, soul and mind. But Jesus is so much more involved in our lives than just to speak to us about what we ‘do'. This verse isn't a ‘doing' verse, but a ‘being' verse. Rather than letting the focus be on how we love God with all the facets and faces of our lives, read into the spirit of the verse. Jesus is after our hearts, not our perfect performance. He has saved us by grace, not by our own perfection. Jesus wants all of us. Not to hold us captive, but to have access and be invited into every aspect of our lives.
We all have friends that are not ‘deep' friends. Ones that we have fun with, but might not necessarily share our soul with. Jesus doesn't want that kind of closed relationship with us. He wants our hearts – our passions and desires. He wants our soul – everything that we have done and that has happened to us… He's not afraid, intimidated or offended by any of it. And he wants our minds – out thinking, logic and rationale. He wants access to the entirety of YOU – not just a part of you. So right now, make a decision not to have a closed and conditional relationship with God, but actually open up all the pockets and sections of your life to Him; your heart, your soul and your mind. And embrace Him in them – He doesn't want access to judge and expose, but to heal and empower. Peace…
