Love God With All Your Heart

So here's what I want to do with this.  Psalm 1 talks about the blessed man, that:

"His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."  

That word "meditates" (according to the ESV Study Bible), describes "an active pondering, perhaps even muttering to oneself in pursuit of insight."  So I want to actively ponder the 2 commands on which the entire law hangs, and specifically, today, what it means to, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart."

Now, the heart is a hollow muscle that pumps blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions.  The heart is what keeps us alive.

As long as the heart is pumping, there is life.  

So to love the Lord your God with all your heart, means to love him with the very thing that keeps me alive.  And as I think about the muscle that keeps me alive, I think of how God is in fact, the one who sustains my life, the one who knows the number of my days, the one who formed my heart and gave me life and the one who will one day cause my heart to stop beating.  So to love God with my actual physical heart, is to remember that God is the giver and taker of life.  But there is more to this.

What does the rest of the Bible say about our heart?

In 1 Samuel 16:7, Samuel is getting ready to anoint the new king of Israel.  He's with this family and there are several young men who look the part, but one in particular.  His name was Eliab.  Samuel sees these young men, but when he looked at Eliab, Samuel thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before him."  Eliab was the oldest, and probably the biggest and the most mature looking of the bunch.  If a king had to be picked from this group, Samuel figured:

It would be this guy for sure.  

But God had a very interesting word for Samuel at that moment.  God told Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him."  Why?  Why reject a guy that totally looked the part?  Here's why:

"For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."  

Huh.  The heart.  His hollow muscle didn't pump blood rhythmically enough?

Did Eliab just have really high cholesterol?

What was it about Eliab's heart that God didn't like?  I'll come back to that.

Let's take a quick look at some other verses and see what we can learn about the heart.  These are just a selected few.  If you don't want to read all these, you can just skip to the bottom where I summarize:

Psalm 37:4 - "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 119:11 - "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you."
Proverbs 27:19 - "As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man."
Isaiah 57:15 - "For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite."
Jeremiah 17:9-10 - "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 'I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.'"
Ezekiel 36:26 - God says, "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a new heart of flesh."
Matthew 5:8 - "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Acts 2:37 - Now when they heard this (the gospel) they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
 1 Corinthians 4:5 - Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.  Then each one will receive his commendation from God.
Revelation 2:23 - "And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works."

So, back to Eliab and to wrap all this up.  Eliab was rejected because he didn't have the heart that God wanted.  He didn't love the Lord his God with his life.  There were other things more important in life than God for Eliab.  His confidence and identity were not in God.  How do I know this?  Because of 2 other passages.  The first is 1 Samuel 13:13-14.  Saul was king of Israel and he did not keep the command of God.  So Samuel comes up to him and says to Saul,

"You have done foolishly.  You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you.  For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.  But now your kingdom shall not continue.  The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you."  

The Lord rejects Saul for the same reason he rejects Eliab.  He wants a man after His own heart and that wasn't Eliab!  Look at Psalm 119:11 above.  A man after God's own heart strongly desires not to sin against God, and so he stores up the word of God in his heart.  Sin is a big deal to God.  And sin begins in the heart.

One more passage.  Right before the battle of David and Goliath.  David comes to the battle line and hears Goliath taunt and defy Israel.  David asks what will be done for the man who kills Goliath.  This is where we pick up:  

"Now Eliab [David's] eldest brother heard when [David] spoke to the men.  And Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, 'Why have you come down?  And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?  I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.'" 

Eliab was a chump.  He lacked courage and conviction.  He accused the heart of his little brother, who was a man after God's own heart.  David loved the Lord his God with all his heart.  Saul and Eliab did not.  

So what does it mean to love the Lord your God with all your heart?   

It means that we need to delight ourselves in God, memorize His Word and remain pure.  The thing that keeps us physically alive is our heart, sustained by God.  The things that keeps us spiritually alive is our relationship with the one who gave us life...God.  So to love God with all your heart means to center your life on Him, place your confidence in Him, find your courage in Him, and know that He is in fact, your Lord, and your God.  He gives the orders in your life, and you follow those orders, no matter the cost.  Loving God with all your heart means that your life on this earth is totally His, and that you will do whatever He asks of you.  You delight in Him, and so it brings you great pleasure to do whatever he asks.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart.  

Jesus, the Scribe, and Our Frustrated Exhaustion

Have you ever been at that place in life where you feel tired, discouraged, uncertain of what the future holds, struggling to go forward with joy, mercy and love as your characterizing attributes?

I've been there

What I notice about those moments or seasons of life, is that there's always a reason.  I can try and re-charge my batteries in numerous ways.

As an introvert, I think that I just need some time alone to get that zeal for life back.
As an athlete, I think that I just need to exercise a little bit to get my energy up.
As a music lover, I  think that I need to play my guitar to get the creative juices flowing.
As a husband, I think that I need to spend some quality time alone with my wife.
As a father, I think that I need to spend some quality time with my kids to have fun just being silly.

On and on it goes...

But what I always tend to forget is that none of those things are my most important identity.  None of those things are the reason I was created.  None of those things will truly help unless I am seeking one thing in the midst of them.  

...

There's this passage in the Bible that is really fascinating.  Jesus is in the midst of these religious elitists (the Sadducees), speaking truth and making them look silly for holding the beliefs which they held.

Funny how Jesus never apologized for speaking offensive truth

As he's talking with these guys, a scholar or expert in the law (a scribe) overhears Jesus' conversation with them.  He hears how Jesus responds to them, and sees that Jesus "answered them well."  

He's come to this moment prepared with 1 question

Perhaps he wanted to see just how solid Jesus was. 

Maybe he wanted to show people that Jesus didn't know what he was talking about.

Maybe he had seen the attention that Jesus was getting and wanted to come flaunt his intellectual superiority. 

Nobody knows why

We don't know why this scholar did what he did, but he asks Jesus a question that, had this happened in today's age, would have been posted all over Facebook, tweeted and re-tweeted, been on the news, etc.  This was a BIG DEAL!  This guy stands toe to toe with Jesus, and asks him, 

"Which commandment is the most important of all?" 

I picture the surrounding area to come to a halt.  People stopped their side conversations.  Children that had been playing were immediately hushed.  Whatever had been going on that seemed important before, suddenly didn't seem important at all.  Everyone knew that the words which were about to be spoken would be worth telling and re-telling.  "The most important commandment of all?"  "Is he allowed to ask that?"  Is he allowed to answer that?"  "Is there a right answer?"

Jesus didn't hesitate

Speaking with confidence that made onlookers wonder if Jesus had written the commandments in the first place, Jesus answered with these words: 

"The most important is, 'Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no other commandment greater than these."

Wow

It sounds pretty straight forward right?  But what in the world does it mean to love God with your heart and with your soul?  What's the difference between our heart and soul?  And how do you love God with your mind and strength?  And what does he mean by ALL of these things?  He doesn't literally mean ALL does he?  This is just allegorical teaching right?  Oh, and how did the scribe respond?  Here's how:

"You are right, Teacher.  You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him.  And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

The scribe approves of Jesus' answer.  And from the outside perspective, it seems as though the scribe has the upper hand.  He approved of Jesus' answer.  Like Jesus is the young pup and the scribe is the old dog.  There's this sense that the scribe is somehow trying to keep the upper hand.  But Jesus is the King.  Jesus is the Lord.  Jesus is God.

Jesus has the final word

Jesus sees that the scribe answered wisely and said to him,

"You are not far from the kingdom of God."

Jesus clearly saw some potential in this guy.  But then the writer of this story adds this little sentence at the end.  A little note to let all us readers in on what the feel in the room was, what resulted from this conversation, how people saw Jesus differently.  I love this little sentence.  We see the confidence and authority with which Jesus spoke in these words recorded by the narrator:

And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

The thought of challenging Jesus on any matter terrified everyone.  Jesus had ultimate authority, ultimate confidence, ultimate knowledge.  He even knew where people stood spiritually.  It was as if he knew the hearts, souls, minds and strength of people just by looking at them.  Wow.

Jesus was more than just a great teacher

...

So to tie this back into the exhausting, frustrating, discouraging moments of life, I wonder if this has anything to do with that?  Is Jesus telling us, loud and clear, what's lacking in our lives during those moments or seasons?  Is Jesus explaining why our efforts to refresh ourselves without him have been in vain? 

I think he is

In the following days, I'm going to dive into the 2 greatest commandments that Jesus mentions.  I want to find out what Jesus means when he tells us to love in this way.  I think there's a lot there that we're missing.  

I hope you take the ride with me and dive into these words of God with great expectation.