He answered,
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself.'” Luke 10:27
with?
We devote ourselves endlessly
to our children’s activities. We will pay whatever it takes to get them to be
the best or one of the best.
We will give all our time,
days, nights, weekends… whatever it takes.
We will be their biggest
agent and promoter.
Maybe it is not your
children’s activities, maybe it is your significant other or your family. Maybe
it is yourself, maybe it is your hobby, your job, your extra-curricular
activities.
We so often are willing to
give our heart, soul, mind, and strength to many things or many people.
In Luke 10, Jesus is
answering an expert of the law. He wants to know what he must do to inherit
eternal life. He next wants to know what is written in the law and how does the
law read according to Jesus. They were trying to catch Jesus not answering
according to the law.
To them their life was the
law and it was based on their beliefs. They wanted to follow the law with their
actions but not with their hearts. They were the first to point out others
failing, but couldn’t see the failures in their own lives.
Jesus defined the law. Jesus
came to not give more laws but to fulfill the law in giving his life as a
sacrifice for us.
Jesus quickly answered this
lawyer saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
with all your mind and with all your strength.” Not just with your empty words
or your actions, but with your being.
How many times do we devote
ourselves to all the other things this world offers and we are quickly let
down. We are quickly disappointed. Like these men we are seeking more.
As Jesus answers us here in
Luke our heart, soul, mind and strength are being put in the wrong place and in
the wrong person.
I don’t know about you
but I don’t want to be let down. I don’t want to be disappointed.
So instead of relying on the
things of this world to build me up. Instead of depending on the people of this
word to not let me down, I can do one thing. I can change my focus. I can
change the direction at which I seek my strength.
You may be thinking right now
that I am crazy. You have families that need your strength. You have spouses
that need your heart. You have jobs that need your mind. You have everyday life
that needs your soul. You are so divided. How can you give any more?
Where do you fit God into all
that giving? What is left for The One you are to be devoted to?
The LORD is my strength
and my shield. I trust Him with all my heart. He helps me and my heart is
filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. Psalm 28:7
I love the promises that we
are given through God’s Word.
So, how can we give the Lord
ALL our heart; why would we give Him all our heart when we feel like we have so
little left to give?
I am not suggesting giving
Him the pieces that you have left. I am not suggesting that you give him the
parts of you that you can free today. I am not suggesting that you fit
Him in for your five minute pick me up. Neither is HE.
Think about your heart, soul,
strength, and mind. That is ALL of you. This is a sacrifice. This is a
surrender. This is putting yourself aside, to gain life.
What is His promise? HE
promises to be your strength. He promises to be your shield. He helps your
heart be filled with joy. So much joy that you are bursting out with songs.
Anyone in need of a little joy?
Anyone seeking out joy or happiness in things and people, just to be left
seeking more.
you have in you. Intentionally, seek Him with all of your might.
Here are a couple of ways to
give your heart.
If you have children, Deuteronomy 6:7 tells
us: Repeat them (the Lord’s commands) again and again to your children. Talk
about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are
going to bed and when you are getting up.
At your job, Colossians 3:23 says:
Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord
rather than for people.
With Christ, you have hope.
You can have hope in the present. You can have hope for the future. You can
rest you soul in the moments and trials of this life.
I am a constant work of God
but I can be assured with giving him my heart that He will be my strength. He
will be my shield. He will be my fortress and I can find refuge in Him. He will
never leave me nor forsake me.
Are you ready to give your
heart, soul, mind, and strength? Who will you choose to give it to?
Please encourage us with
comments and
SHARING below on ways that you give your heart to Christ in your everyday
life.
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Giving God our best and our all. After all, we're His anyway. I appreciate your post and the subject of it. So important to a vibrant relationship with God. May He bless you as you make Him known! Following you at #livefreeThursday.
Thank you Julie for stopping by from #livefreeThursday. One thing we are not guaranteed is an easy life as Christ followers. To take up our cross daily is work but the payoff is so tremendous that it makes everything else in life that much sweeter.