Harvest Daily 07/14/04

Harvest Daily Devotional
by Pastor Greg Laurie

July 14
How to Love God

Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' "  (Matthew 22:37)

When Jesus said that we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, we need to understand that to the ancient Hebrews, the heart referred to the core of one's personal being (see Proverbs 4:23).  So to love the Lord with all our hearts means to love Him with all of our personal being.

Also, the word Jesus used for "soul" in Matthew 22:37 speaks of emotion.  It is the same word Jesus used when He cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death."  So, loving God includes our emotions.

But then, Scripture tells us that we are to love Him with all of our minds.  This word, "mind" in the original language corresponds to that which we would usually call "might."  It speaks of energy and strength, but also of intellectual commitment and determination.

So you see, to love the Lord includes every part of our lives.  We love Him with all of our hearts in the deepest parts of our being.  We love Him with all of our souls, with our emotions.  But we also love Him with our minds.  We love Him with our intellect.  We love Him with our ability to reason.  We love Him with all of the strength that is in us.

Now it seems as though some people love the Lord with all their minds, but they are afraid to express emotion to Him.  There are others who love God, but seem to operate on raw emotion.  We need to find the balance.  God wants us to love Him with every fiber of our being.

Copyright (c) 2004 by Harvest Ministries.  All rights reserved.  Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version, copyright (c) 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.