With All Your Heart

“...love the Lord your God with all your heart...” Mark 12:30

Love is not an emotion. It is not a feeling. It does not change with circumstance. It does not increase or decrease according to moods and whims and state of mind. We can be irritated with our husband and still love him with all our heart. We can keep our credit cards from the hands of our rebellious daughter and still love her with all that’s in us. Many times the world mistakes love for that mushy feeling that excites and makes you feel on top of the world. When that feeling is gone, sadly so goes the commitment. 

When Moses talked to his people Israel, he instructed them, “Fear the Lord, and keep His laws. Be careful to observe them, that you will grow and prosper the more... Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:2-6)

God’s love for His people never wavers. Even when we rebel against Him, He finds ways to call us back to Him. He has a feast prepared for us, and just like in the parable in Luke 14, many of us who are invited don’t want to come! We are too busy, we need to take care of some things first, we’re too young, too old. We can’t be bothered to love God back! 

Again, this is one of the enemy’s great deceptions! We fall into his trap believing that loving God is restricting, sets limits on what we can and cannot do. We want to live our life our way! But when we come within God’s circle of forgiveness and love, we find that on the contrary, there is fullness of life and peace beyond understanding. That is just how God works. It is such a pity if we wait until we are at the end of our rope before we cry out to Him!