If there was only one thing I should do…

…it should be to…Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  (Matt. 22:36)  It sounded like such a simple command. 

But…how do you love God with your all your heart or mind??

I sat perplexed by that one verse.  A verse I had read countless times before.  But that day, almost ten years ago, I realized I had no idea what loving God actually looked like.  Yet, I knew it was important to find out. I discovered the answer to this one question could be a chapter in a book or a book itself.  But for your sanity and the constraints of a blog post, I’ll try to boil it down to a few of nuggets of truth.

If love is an action.  Love for God is obedience.  How do we obey God with our hearts?

In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us not to store up for ourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, rather store up for ourselves treasures in heaven.  For where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.

As the good Dr. B used to tell me…Follow the money, Dana.  Dr. B was trying to point out…if you follow the money you will find the true motivation for the choice, decision, policy etc.  The heart.  I hate to say it… but he’s right.

But sweet Dr. B wasn’t the first one to point this out.  Jesus alluded to this same reality in Matthew 6.  Your heart is where your money is.  So if we only use our money for shiny things and earthly pleasures well… it’s hard to make the sale that we love God with all our hearts.

Money is tricky that way.  We spend our lives trying to get it.  But if we’re not careful, it ends up getting us.  Instead of using our money to love what He loves, we use our money to pursue things that make our lives shiny but leave us tired and empty.

When I started studying the greatest commandment, I wasn’t thinking that my heart would mean my money.  And I certainly didn’t know what God meant by soul.

Let’s work off the pretense that your soul is comprised of your mind/will/emotions.  Since your mind is specifically addressed in the greatest commandment, let’s examine the tension between your will and your emotions.

Creflo Dollar gave one of the best definitions of temptation I have heard.  He said, Temptation is when pressure is applied to your emotions to lead you to a place you never wanted to go.

Since loving God means obeying God. Loving God with our souls means choosing to obey God despite our emotions.  Clearly, Satan applied some pressure to Jesus’ emotions in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus said...My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.  

Jesus was tempted by His emotions.  But He loved God with His soul when He chose to go to the cross despite His emotions.  (Matthew 26:36-45) This is how Jesus overcame the world.  He didn’t let his emotions or his hardships stop Him from completing the work God had given Him.

We love God with our souls when our “will” triumphs over our “emotions”.

But our will will never be prepared to triumph over our emotions if our minds have not been renewed.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.  Romans 12:2

I have to know truth in order to discern the truth from a lie.  I have to stay in God’s Word to understand that loving my enemy is actually loving God.  So, one way we love God with our minds is by using our minds to know His Word.

But what if we allow God to use our minds to glorify Him??

I love the story of George Washington Carver.  Born a slave, he went on to revolutionized the South’s economy after the Civil War.  Carver discovered 300 ways to use the peanut.  He was brought before Congress to testify regarding his achievement.  The Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives asked him:  “Dr. Carver, how did you know all these things?”  Dr. Carver explained he learned about the peanut by reading the Bible and asking God to reveal why He made the peanut.  He said…”I asked Him to show me what to do with the peanut and He did.” (William Federer, George Washington Carver: His Life and Faith in his Own Words (St. Louis, MO: Amerisearch, 2002). 35, 75.)

I believe Dr. Carver used his mind to love God and to bring Him glory.  But by asking God to open up his mind regarding his work, Dr. Carver also loved God with his strength.

What if we think of strength not only as our physical power but also our abilities, assets or things we can offer for His Kingdom??  Carver invited God into his work and God prospered his work.

The challenge for me is how can I invite God into my work?  I can ask God to show me what to do with anesthesia.  I can ask Him for wisdom, vigilance and deliverence for my patients.  I can pray over them.  I can pray with my collegues, encourage and love them. I can speak truth and work as unto the Lord.  I can give away my skills through medical missions.  I can use the money I make from work to love what God loves and do what God does.

I can also use my home, car, time and energy to love others.  God’s blessed me with many strengths/assets…I just need to allow Him to use some of them for His glory.

I’m not sure where you are on your journey to living out the greatest commandment.  I still have a ways to go.  But I feel better equipped after dissecting the verse.  I haven’t given all my money to God, but I’ve used some to love Him more.  I’m learning to be wary of my emotions and where they are trying to lead me.  I’m trying to choose to obey God more. I’m trying to intentionally use the things God has blessed me with to love Him.  To love Him by giving anesthesia, opening my home and even driving the carpool. Because it’s through the ordinary things in life, I can love Him fully.

Thank you for loving God too!!