With All Your Strength

"Jesus answered, 'The most important [commandment] 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.'" - Mark 12:29-30

Love God with all your STRENGTH.

We need to love God with all of our strength. That means all of our energy. It’s interesting that the word the gospel of Mark uses for "strength" also means "ability." I love that. Because what does that tell us about loving God? It means that God has given all of us talents and abilities. And when we use those talents and abilities in church, or in vocation, or in relationships with others, we can approach it one of two ways – we can seek glory for ourselves or look to glorify God. 

You see, to love God with all of our energy, with all of our abilities, with all of our spiritual gifts, means serving the Lord in ministry. It’s a way of expressing our love to Him. It means holding nothing back when it comes to our energy level in showing our love for God. It means that when we’re using all that energy in our vocation, or in school, we’re doing it because it is pleasing to God to make the most of our abilities for Him. We are loving God with all of our strength, with all of our being.

With Your Soul

"Jesus answered, 'The most important [commandment] 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.'" - Mark 12:29-30

Our soul is our personality and the seat of our will. Confusing? Think about it this way. When a man and woman fall in love, they get married. While passion may have drawn them together, it is a decision of the will that keeps them together in a committed relationship. The fact is that sinful human nature often causes us to be tempted to be unfaithful to our spouse. And if we went by our feelings we would follow the temptation! It's during those times that we have to completely ignore temporary feelings and by an act of the will, decide to stay faithful. We express our love through this long-term faithfulness, loyalty, and devotion. It's the same with God.

 When we give our heart to God, we begin that relationship with Him. Then along the way, we're tempted to fall into sin. And if we simply followed our feelings, we would give into the temptation. But if we're really going to love God, we choose to be faithful to Him, no matter what we're feeling at the moment. So, how do we love God with all our soul? We do it with our will.

Do Not Be Conformed To This World

How many questions this verse—Romans 12:2—raises that need thoughtful, biblical answers. For example, How does the command not to be conformed to this world relate to Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 9:22, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some”? How is becoming all things to all people not conforming to the world? Or how does the command not to conform to the world, that is, to be counter-cultural, relate to Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10:32-33? “Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.” How does not being conformed to the world fit with not giving offense to the world? You can’t always do both. How does not being conformed to the world fit with pleasing everyone for the sake of salvation? You can’t always please people if you refuse to conform to some of their thoughts and ways.

To give you a way to think about these questions, I pray will be part of the renewing of your mind so that you can prove and embrace the will of God.


The reason there are questions like these is not because Paul slipped up and got confused about what it means to follow Christ in a fallen world. Paul was not confused. He was holding two Christian impulses; two principles; in balance. When Christ came into the world, and lived and died and rose from the dead, and set the redeeming kingdom of God in motion, and unleashed the mighty gospel on the world, two powerful impulses, or forces, spread everywhere the gospel spread.

Still Hungry? 1 Peter 1:14, 1 Tim 5:4

Love God with all Your Heart

Jesus answered, 'The most important [commandment] 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.'" - Mark 12:29-30


To love God with all your heart means to love God with all of your feelings, with all of your emotions and with all your passion. Now, passion is a very hot term in our contemporary culture. People ask, “What's your passion?” What they’re asking you is what is it that really gets your juices flowing? It could be a certain ideology, social cause, or politics. Perhaps it's a passion about the theatre, movies, or music. Or it could be making money, physical fitness, or watching college football. You can be passionate about a lot of things, but the number one passion of your life should be your relationship with God.

Think about your relationship with God this way. When you first came to Christ there was no problem in feeling passionate about God. You had a hunger for the Word, to be in worship, and to tell others about Christ. You were excited about it, and there was a very real passion there! But then as time went by and life presented its many challenges and opportunities, it became easy for other things to become a higher priority. And if we’re more passionate about anything else than our relationship with God, our priorities are simply out of whack. Jesus reminds us that when you give your heart to God, you want to maintain that passion and love Him with all your heart.

Faith

If Samson had the same physique as Arnold Schwarzenegger.....would there be need for anyone to ask him....where does your strength come from?