Yes, There is Good News! Part 9

In the previous entry, I ended by asking the question, “Do you know how to love your heavenly Father?”  Now that you have had some time to think about that question let’s consider an answer.

We began this topic of loving God by considering the scripture, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deut. 6:4)  And we noted that this was Jesus’ answer to the question of “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  Let us note that Jesus did not stop there, He went on to mention the second great commandment also, “love your neighbor as yourself”.  This second great commandment is also very good news!  But before we get into that we must understand the first.  How do we apply it and why is it good news.

This type of love is an act of the will.  We have the free will to love God or not to love Him.  It is within our will power to bring ourselves to love Him, and to love Him first and foremost; to love Him with all our hearts, all our life (the word “soul” means life) and all our minds.  When I look at this scripture and contemplate its implications, I become awed.  This commandment is not at all like, “Do not steal, do not lie, or do not commit murder.”  This is in a category by itself.  To utilize all my heart, all my life and all my mind in forming a loving relationship with my Heavenly Father is pretty heavy stuff.  Perhaps we must take a closer look at this.

Let us start with the first item in this list, “the heart”.  What does it mean for you to put your whole heart into something?  When you start a project, are you a “wholehearted” person?  We use this word “heart” to mean many things.  We say things like, “I had my heart broken” or “he stole her heart”, and it is used as a symbol of romantic love.  We also say “let’s get to the heart of the matter”, and so desire to get to the core meaning.  We say that an athlete “played their heart out”.  And I guess we get the point.

So if we could put our whole heart into loving the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the one who gave us life itself, how would we be blessed by Him?  Do you believe that God is our provider and protector?  Do you believe it when the bible says that every good and perfect gift is from our Father above?  And this whole “hearted” love is only the first of three prerequisites.  Let’s look at the other two in upcoming articles.

Don’t go away folks, there’s still more to come.