“Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
From our explanation of Deuteronomy 6:4-5 so far, we’ve seen how God commanded the Israelites to keep His Words in their hearts and to teach their children. And in the last article, we concluded that God wants us, both as individuals and as Christian evangelism ministries in Israel, to have the same attitude in evangelism today.
One thing we have yet to discuss from the text (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) is the opening instruction, which says:
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”
Like I was telling someone the other day, our love for God is one aspect of the Christian faith that we cannot afford to trivialize. It is fundamental to our walk with God and our service to Him.
In Mark 12:28, a scribe asked Yeshua, “Which is the first commandment of all?” Without mincing words, Yeshua replied, saying:
“The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 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. (Mark 12:29-30)
Obviously, Yeshua was quoting from our Old Testament text, Deuteronomy 6:4-5. As you probably know, “first” in this context has to do with primacy. Matthew’s account of the same event seems to put it better. It says, “This is the first and great commandment” (Matthew 22:38).
From these scriptures and a few others, let’s find out what it means to love God.
What Does it Mean to Love God?
1. To Love God is to Obey His Commandments
“If you love Me, keep My commandments. (John 14:15)
Primarily, to love God means to obey His commandments. Besides the text above, John 14:24, John 15:10, 1 John 5:3, and several other verses of the Bible also emphasize this truth. God wants us to be hearers and doers of His Word (James 1:22). We discussed this extensively in the article Hear O Israel: He Who has Ears, Let Him Hear. You can click on the link to read the post.
One thing that I’m excited about obeying God’s commandments is that God has not left us to handle things ourselves. He is exactly Who the psalmist says He is – our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).
Philippians 2:13 says, “God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey Him” (Contemporary English Version).
Glory to God – we are not without help! God has not only asked us to obey Him; He is also working in us to make us willing and able to obey.
2. To Love God is to Make Him Our Priority
In Exodus 20:3, God warned the Israelites not to have any other gods beside Him. Later in verse 5 of the same chapter, He gave the reason for that instruction, “for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God.”
But one thing I want you to notice from this verse in relation to our discussion is this:
To have another god today goes beyond worshiping an idol as a practice of faith. It could also mean trading our devotion to God for carnal things like fame, material prosperity, public acceptance, etc.
Don’t get me wrong: there is nothing wrong with us having these things. God wants us to prosper in all things but in His way (3 John 2). His method is to seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:31-33).
God wants us to put Him above all else. Just like the Hear O Israel prayer says, we should give all our heart, our soul, and our strength in love and service to God (Deuteronomy 6:5; Joshua 22:5).
3. To Love God is to Want to Know Him More
Finally, to love God means to desire to know Him more. The primary way to know God is through His Word. Our hearts must long to know Him (Psalms 19:10; Psalms 42:1). This is why reading the Word daily is critical to our relationship with God.
Wrap Up
Primarily, to love God means to obey His commandments. One of His commandments is to preach the Gospel (Mark 16:15). More than ever, we need to be deliberate about fulfilling this mandate. Let’s be more creative about it, too! We can turn our social media accounts into pulpits and casual chats into evangelistic discussions. Another attention-grabbing yet underrated method of creative evangelism is to wear a Yeshua t shirt.
Besides obeying God’s commandments, loving God also means making Him our priority and desiring to know Him more. Beyond telling God, “I love you,” let’s learn to obey Him, make Him our priority, and desire to know Him more.