There is but one thing we should each attain to in this life, and it is this… to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22:37). Jesus said that this is the greatest commandment.
It is one thing to say we love God. It is quite another thing to live it. If we claim that we are giving our all for God, that means we must forsake the things of the flesh. Only then can we more fully take hold of the things of the Spirit.
“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will” (Romans 8:5-7, NLT).
So how do we love God more? To answer this question, our natural human tendency is to think of more things to do, rather than more things to be. Here’s what I mean…
What if our focus was to be more kind, be more patient, be more gentle, be more forgiving, be more gracious, be less rude, be less envious, be less boastful, be less prideful, be less selfish, be less angry, be more peace-loving, be more honoring to others?
I don’t think any of us need more things to do, but think about this: how would our “do” be transformed, if our “be” was reformed?
For example, if our “be” was reformed, how would our mothering be transformed? How would our marriage be transformed? How would our paid work, our volunteer work, our time in traffic, our time doing mundane tasks all be transformed if we loved God more?
Honestly, a person who isn’t a Christ follower can do lots of good things and look like a good person, even while having a heart that is black with sin. But “good” is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. So we’re dealing with a heart issue. If we want to love God more, then our hearts need reformation.
Our hearts need Jesus.
Our “be-ing” is hidden in him. So when we try to be more loving by our own act of the will, we will fail every time. We are arrogant if we believe otherwise. Only by surrendering our will to the presence and power of Jesus will we ever be able to love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. And what do we make of the word all? Never will we achieve all until we are perfected with Christ in heaven. Until then, we depend on his amazing grace. For we will fail every day. Our sin is ever before us, so we cast it ever before the feet of Jesus, where it is then cast as far as the east is from the west. All praise to our Lord, Jesus Christ.
The miraculous thing about Jesus’ command to love God with our all, is that we can only do it if we obey Jesus’ command to “Come”,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
Resting in Christ equals transformation. What a miracle, indeed.
So today, take all of your striving, all your duties, all your relationships, all your anxieties…and lay them before Jesus. Let his presence empower your “do”, so you can simply “be”. How sweet it is to be a Chosen and Crowned daughter of the King.
Anna Frye is a speaker, author, television producer and founder of the Chosen and Crowned tribe. She invites moms and wives to celebrate imperfect progress fueled by the grace of a perfect God. She helps women bravely talk about the messy places of life, instead of hiding shamefully under them. She believes that lasting beauty comes when women courageously surrender their ashes to God and allow him to do something miraculous with them. If this resonates with you, then you belong with the Chosen and Crowned tribe. Connect at www.ChosenAndCrowned.com/blog
