Blogger's Note - This is a continuation from January 24 blog entitled "Good Enough". I challenge you to read that one then proceed to read this one. Please pray that God will open your heart and your mind to the true perspective of what Christ is teaching, lay aside your thoughts and feelings and ideas and really look into the way Christ is teaching here.
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ It was an answer so simple, yet it’s meaning so lofty. It is not enough to love God; our love must be more defined and transcendent. We are to love Him with all of our heart, and all of our soul, and all of our mind. Our love must be deeper than just an expression; our love must also be an engagement of everything we are. Why are so content on good enough, when Christ explicitly asks for more in answering the question, “What is the greatest commandment in the law?”
Our heart, the center and the seat of our physical and spiritual life is the fountain of our thoughts, our desires, our emotions, our passions and our appetites. Everything about our life, both spiritual and physical is a representation of that which we love and is revealed by the heart. It is an expression that cannot be hid. Jesus teaches that our spoken word reveals who we are and where we are in our heart. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. (Luke 6:45) How deep and how convicting that is. The literal meaning of the word heart means thoughts and feelings. Our speech reveals our true feelings. Unholy words reveal an unholy alliance. As a Christian, our speech should be reflective of God and not related to this world. Everything we allow to represent us shows where we are in our heart. Our heart belongs to God and our life and our lips should reflect that. What fills your heart? Is what you want or is it truly what God wants? Some of us are content with allowing the wisdom and instructions of God to fill our hearts to a certain point. Simply being good enough, but Jesus reveals to us that the greatest commandment shows that ideology to be a disobedience to what God really wants and expects, we must love Him with ALL of our heart.
There is a legend of Constantine and his army after making Christianity an official religion in the Roman Empire after a supposed vision. He required every soldier in the Roman army to become baptized. The baptism came with an ordinance attached. They must lay aside their weapons. The weapons of a Roman soldier were a mark of pride. They refused to lay aside their weapons. As they marched into the water to be baptized, they held their weapons high above their heads and were baptized except for the hand that held their weapon which remained dry while the rest of their body was submerged. How guilty are we, much like the Roman soldiers, we will commit our hearts to God but only to a point. To give even a little space to our fleshly thoughts, ideas, and feelings is setting us up for a trap. The Apostle Paul warns us: Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts. (Romans 6:12). Is our relationship good enough? As we get to the heart of the matter, in the eyes of God (and Christ, after all they are one and the same), that is not enough. He does not want just a portion or majority of it. He does not want good enough, He wants all of it. That is total and complete and absolute surrender. It is what He expects, it is what He commands. Our love for Him should motivate us to please, trust, and obey Him. He has every right to ask that of us considering the fact that what He has done for us. Our thoughts, our feelings, our speech is a reflection of who we are and where we are spiritually. Our heart should be centered on God and His word and His expectations for us. That is the heart of the matter. Don’t be content with just good enough, strive to give all of who you are to Him.
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