Question: Using Mark 12:30 “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.’” How does one love God in those 4 domain of one’s being?
Let’s explore briefly how one can love God in each of the four domains mentioned in Mark 12:30:
Elohim wants you to love Him with the totality of your being which based on Mark 12:30 comprises four domains. How can one love God in these 4 domains of one’s being? 1) Love God with All Your Heart: Loving God with all your heart involves a deep and sincere affection for Him. Your feelings, desires, and affections are set on Him. It means having an unwavering devotion, passion, and love that emanates from the core of your being. This includes all aspects of your emotions which now become in tune with His word and will. Loving God with all your heart also entails offering heartfelt prayers, heartfelt worship, and heartfelt devotion to God. 1st Samuel 12:24; “Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you”. Also God promises you will certainly find Him when you seek Him with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13) 2) Love God with All Your Soul: Loving God with all your soul encompasses the entirety of your inner self (spirit-man). This is the deepest part of our being created by God. It includes your conscience being directed by the Holy-Spirit (Romans 9:1). That your inner man is in continual contact with God, serving Him, worshipping Him, and communing with Him (Romans 1:9 & John 4:24). You get to the level in your walk with God where you have direct awareness of God by the Holy-Spirit in you and receive knowledge from Him (1 Corinthians 2:11).
We will briefly look at the last two dimensions of our being that should love God as believers. 3) Love God with All Your Mind: It involves loving God with your intellect, thoughts, and mental faculties. Your will is also closely linked to your mind and therefore it also denotes making decisions and choices that bring glory to God. Loving God with all your mind requires mental and intellectual engagement. It means actively seeking to know Him, studying His Word, and cultivating a thoughtful understanding of His character, teachings, and purposes. It involves renewing your mind to think in alignment with His truth (Romans 12:2). Loving God with all your mind also indicates taking captive of your thoughts on a daily basis that it obeys Christ. We must actively take captive any thought that oppose God’s truth and align them with obedience to Christ (2nd Corinthians 10:5, NIV). By doing this, we guard our minds ensuring that our thoughts reflect our faith and devotion to God. Remember, your thoughts play a significant role in shaping your character and actions. Therefore, strive to keep your mind focused on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). 4) Love God with All Your Strength: The Psalmist was a man who understood what it means to serve God with all his strength. Psalms 27:4; “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” Loving God with all your strength involves practical action. It’s about using your physical abilities, talent, resources, and energy to serve Him and others. Whether through acts of kindness, worship, or obedience, it’s a wholehearted commitment to live out your faith in Christ Jesus. “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” – Colossians 3:23. In loving God with all our strength suggests even our sensory perceptions must be compelled to seek God. For example, you will not allow your eyes watch pornographic programmes, you will not allow your ears hear gossip and you will not use your hands to steal or hit somebody in anger because your body is God’s instrument of righteousness (Romans 6:13). As believers we strive to love God in each of these domains, as they embrace a holistic and wholehearted devotion to God that encompasses our entire being – heart, soul, mind, and strength.
God bless you.
Prayer:
Holy-Spirit empower me to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, all the days of my life, in Jesus Name
Prayer-Arrow: Father help me that my heart will always line up to your word and will, in Jesus Name
