Elevating Our Love For God

Intro:

Today is a special day for several different reasons. First, Mitzi and I are celebrating 18 years of marriage today! I don’t know what I did to deserve her, but I’m sure thankful that God had favor on me and allowed me to be her Husband.

Second, today is the last message in our series, “ Love Worth Finding.” We’ve been building in our series to get to this message and I’m excited to share what the Bible teaches about Loving God.

As I spent time pondering the topic of how to love God, He brought to my attention several things.

Loving God is a total encapsulation of my body, mind, soul, and spirit. In order for someone to truly love God they have to understand a few principles.

Loving God is not a part time job.

Loving God requires sacrifice.

Loving God is a complete fulfillment of who God created us to be when we exercise love back to him.

In our passage today, I encourage you not to overlook the reason that God commands us to love him first.

Take a look with me at the passage found in Mark chapter 12, beginning in verse 28.

Mark 12:28–30 NKJV

28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” 29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.

Recognizing Who God Is

God Is Sovereign.

Above all Kings, authorities and entities, our heavenly father is sovereign.

His sovereignty has existed from eternity past, present, and future.

His sovereignty reassures us of his authority.

His proclamation in verse 29 reminds us that he is in supreme control.

“The Lord is one,” teaches that there is no other but God

God is Holy.

His holiness assures me of his character.

I can worship him based off of the fact that his holiness translates into an exemplary example.

Psalm 99:9 NKJV

9 Exalt the Lord our God, And worship at His holy hill; For the Lord our God is holy.

God is Love.

The very nature and makeup of God is love.

Jesus commanded us to love God.

1 John 4:19 NKJV

19 We love Him because He first loved us.

Christians can love God by following the example he has set before us. His love for us is not just lip service, He has demonstrated that love over and over to us!

Question: Do you know who God is in your life according to scripture? If not, ask God to lead you into a deeper understanding of Him.

Love Him With Your Heart

Jesus commanded us to love God with our heart first.

To do this, we must first understand what it means to love with your heart.

To love God with your heart means to love God with your emotions.

Praising him with your happiness, smile, and gratitude

ALL your heart means, at ALL times.

Even when God seems quiet.

Even when he says wait.

And even when he says no.

And, yes, even when bad things happen.

The embodiment of loving God with our heart can be summed up in the verse found in Philippians 4:4

Philippians 4:4 NKJV

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

It’s not easy to love God with all your heart.

Our emotions can get the better of us if not put into subjection.

Practice loving God with your heart in private and in public.

Question: Are you emotionally attached to Christ? Do you have a deep-seated heart cry for Jesus?

Loving God With My Soul

To love God with your soul means that innate part of you that always knew that you were created by a Creator.

When you let yourself be still and quiet, something inside of you just knows that there is a God.

When you look at all of the intricacies of the universe, the planet, and your own body, a piece of you just knows.

In 1670,Blaise Pascal the French mathematician, physics once said,

“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him. This infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.”

2. Yes, you have a God-shaped hole within you that can only be satisfied by Him.

But then you have to allow yourself to go even further past that simple knowing and let yourself believe that God not only exists, but he loves you enough to send his only Son to die and free you from your sins.

Your soul takes you much farther than your heart can; it takes you to a solid relationship with the living Lord and as a bonus, heaven

We can learn a lot from that old Hymn, “Holy holy holy.”

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty Early in the morning Our song shall rise to Thee

“ Praise him from the depth of your soul and you will enjoy the unity that you find in Christ.”

Question: Has the void in your life been filled? from the depth of your soul are you content in your relationship with Christ?

Loving God With My Mind

When I depend on my own understanding, lies run rampant in my brain. They can pop up at any time in an attempt to slow my walk with God.

Loving God with my mind means renewing my mind daily.

So that I think more of his thoughts instead of my own.

I know his thoughts by reading the Bible daily.

Then with study and repetition, some of his thoughts go in to my mind and dissipate those old lies.

Romans 12:2 NKJV

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Understanding how to train the mind to be Holy is crucial in surviving the pitfalls of life.

Paul outlines in Philippians 4:8 what we should meditate upon in our pursuit to train our mind.

Philippians 4:8 NKJV

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Filling your mind with that which is profitable for holiness.

Loving God is understanding more of who He is and his nature toward us.

There is power in knowledge.

There will be times in your life, where emotionally it will be difficult to transcend a heartfelt praise to God.

It will be in these times that you will need to rely on the knowledge of who God is. That’s is part of Loving God!

Question: From an intellectual perspective, have you invested enough in your understanding of biblical matter that when the trials of life come you can stand firm on the truth of God’s word?

Loving God With My Strength

What does that even mean – to love God with all our strength?

The Greek word for strength used in this passage can be defined as “capability to function effectively,” “strength, power, might.”

Some have suggested that this means to love God with every available resource we have.

Our time, talents, privileges, money, our bodies.

Strength, power, might... those words all seem to have a physical component to them.

We are called to go, to serve, to care for others... all which require a degree of physical strength.

Physical health can impact how we are able to love God with our hearts, souls, and mind.

If we are physically tired, fighting illness, or lacking proper nutrition, our ability to maintain focus is diminished, memory is impaired, our emotions are more unstable, and we may even be more susceptible to temptation.

Our physical health matters.

Most Christians overlook this concept. I for one struggle in this area of physical health.

There are others who are not physically able, due to a host of different reasons.

To physically be able to serve in a capacity that God want us to, we will have to make some adjustments in our life.

That does not mean God is not using people that are unable to be physically fit for a lack of restrictions within their own body.

If we keep ourselves sharp, mentally stable, and engaged in God’s holiness we can certainly operate in our Biblical strength

Loving God with our strength can be difficult.

It encompasses all the previous attributes listed in verse 30.

If I’m going to love God I’ve got to be prepared to do what’s necessary when the time comes, and he calls.

Question: Do you find yourself becoming stronger in the attributes of Jesus? If not, what steps are you prepared to make to grow stronger in the Lord?

Conclusion:

God deserves our best, not our leftovers or our afterthoughts. God deserves a greater love from us than we give at times.

Allow me to challenge you today:

Ask yourself, “am I loving God the way I should.”

As a way of praying about this subject matter, I have found if I asked God to teach me to love Him the way he wants me to, I am able to fulfill this commandment more fully.

Remember, Jesus loves you and he died for your sins. His love was a demonstration to a sin stricken world . We as people, should desire to love him back as best as we can.