February 3rd, 2025
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength”
Today, when we hear the word "love," we often think immediately of the portrayals of love Hollywood presents us in TV and movies. One of the most popular movies of this day in this love category is the book and movie series "To All The Boys," a love story about the darling couple Lara Jean and Peter Kavinsky. If you haven't seen the movie (which I highly recommend you do), one of the core plots of Peter and Lara's love story is what they call their "Faking Dating" contract. Due to a series of unfortunate events, the two come together to fake a relationship to make their crushes jealous. The pair agree to hold hands, go on dates, and do everything a couple would do to appear as though they are dating. The conclusion of this couple's love story ends in a way that all good love stories do. However, I think most would agree that this initial "Fake Dating" between Lara and Peter was no real love, although they were doing all the things a couple in love would do. We would say this because, as people, we innately understand that loving someone extends beyond cute actions and kind words but involves a deep inner affection and commitment toward an individual. Yet, we often find ourselves in our relationship with God, much like the fake love contract between Lara and Peter. We read our Bibles, we attend church weekly and youth group monthly, but do we truly love God with deep affection and commitment? This is the kind of love God calls us to in Deuteronomy 6:5!
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."
This verse is one portion of the "Shema," a prayer and a critical part of worship in the Jewish tradition. Moses delivered this instruction from God to the children of Israel before they entered the promised land, and it serves as an encouragement and reminder to God's people of how to act in a loving relationship with the God who has promised to be with them and has been faithful amidst their suffering, setting them free from slavery in Egypt.
The verse begins, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart." In ancient Israel, the heart was viewed as the centrepiece of human thought, desires, and emotions. This importance of the heart is why, in other verses in the Proverbs, we are told to guard our hearts because where our hearts lead, our lives follow (Prov 4:23). To love God with one's heart is to love God by how we think, what we want, and how we feel. It is a call to think, want and feel in a way God desires.
"Love the Lord your God…with all your soul ". The soul in this verse refers to one's breath. More specifically, the breath of God that is breathed into each individual (Gen 2:7). This breath is the very breath that gives us our life and being. To love God with our soul is to love the Lord with your life. Every breath you breathe and how you live your life ought to give God the praise and honour he deserves.
Finally, "Love the Lord your God… with all your strength" encourages one to love God with all of one's energy. Our activity and how we expend our energy should be done in love with God.
In short, the encouragement to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" is one grand, repeated way of encouraging us to love God with everything we have! It is a call to offer our lives to loving God well. No portion of our lives is held back from God, but everything about us is offered in loving service to him.
This truth means that in school, we work toward good grades and academic excellence, showcasing the godly virtues of hard work that bring praise to God. At home, we honour our parents even when it is difficult out of love and respect for God's choice to make our parents our authority. In our communities, it means being the light of Christ and hands and feet of Jesus, displaying godly character, caring for those in need, and standing up for what's right, even when no one else will.
True love toward God is a commitment to honour God in every aspect of our lives, even when it's difficult, and we're motivated to do the opposite.
The kind of love God desires for us to have is undoubtedly great and requires sacrifice. However, as we learned from the rich young ruler, what we will lose in following Jesus can not compare to all that we will gain in following him. In Christ, we will find freedom from our pain, hope for our present and future, and, most rewarding of all, an eternal loving relationship with God, whose love for us is beyond our imagination.
A Challenge for this Week:
We all have areas of our lives where we can love God better. Consider one action you can take this week to love God better (e.g., being more thankful, serving my parents, reaching out to a student often alone at school). Implement that action, and make it a new habit you can practice regularly.