Mark 12:30 NASB
And you shall love the lord your god with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
Today's devotional will be short, and purposely so. I simply want to give a modern application to a scripture that we are all probably familiar with.
This scripture tells us to love God with all we have and breaks it down into four sections. Hopefully this will help you to apply them better to your life.
1) Love the Lord your God with all your Heart:
The heart is the seat of our desires. To love God with all of your heart means to make him the very desire of your heart and to seek after Him as all that you desire.
2) Love the Lord your God with all your Soul:
The soul is the core of the person. To love God with all of your soul means to love Him with the entirety of who you are. In other words, every part of YOU should be all about HIM.
3) Love the Lord your God with all your Mind:
It is often with our mind that we justify our own sinful behavior. To love God with our mind is to fix our thoughts squarely upon Him and what he wants. That is not an easy task, the world calls regularly for our attention and focus. Loving God with all our mind requires us to turn from the neon flashing lights of the world and its constant alluring and advertising of sin in all forms. Yes, by learning how to do this, we find the ability to remain free from sin's nestling tendencies in our lives.
4) Love the Lord your God with all your Strength:
This is likely the most forthright of all of them, but it is also one that is easily manipulated and twisted by those with an agenda. Far from a militant call, this phraseology calls us to love God with all of our strength (energy, vivaciousness, effort, ability). It's almost impossible for us to truly follow this, but it is also critical for us spiritually to try. For it is in the trying that we learn how to deepen our relationship with Him.
I hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.
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