Love The Lord Your God

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
And with all your mind and with all your strength!”

(Mark 12:30)

One of the most difficult things about playing football in high school was the preseason double-session practices that we had everyday for the two to three weeks before the beginning of the season. These practices were rough two and a half hour practices in sometimes 95+ degree weather and after a couple hours break we’d come back for more. And we did all of this willingly, without pay!

As a Montclair Mountie, we had a history of success that we were expected to uphold. We were used to winning and everyone expected us to win. One of our coaches however desired something more than winning; he wanted us to play with all of our heart. I remember us sitting in the field house watching films during a skull session and going over and over a play hearing the coach say, “look at that, your form was good and your pattern was correct and you read the play right on, but your heart was not in it!” We knew what he meant as we watched – the “spark” was missing.

Unfortunately, this happens too often in our worship. Sure, we know what it means to love God with our minds. We know what it means and how to love Him with our strength. We study the Bible daily and we apply its principles and instructions to our daily lives. But so often our heart and soul are not involved.

If our heart and soul are not involved in our worship, a part of us hungers for more. This is because God’s Word is not just meant to shape our thoughts and actions, but also to connect us with God’s heart. God’s heart is huge, flowing with emotion.

My friend, God desires not for us to have just the form of worship right. He wants our hearts and soul to be engaged with His heart. When this happens, your life will be flowing with love for Him that expresses itself in heartfelt worship and praise.

Let’s meditate on that this week…
Pastor MJ