Soap - The Greatest Commandment

S: Here, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

O: After Moses had told Israel of the 10 commandments, he gave them other commands of obedience to follow - This particular commandment is a cliche used at church a lot, but I know that many people fall short of applying this verse.

In Mt. 22:37 Christ reveals this to be the greatest commandment in the Law

Key words: all your heart, soul, might (I suppose mind and strength derived from soul or might?)

Heart:

1. Emotional mood or disposition - after one's own heart appealing to one's own disposition, taste, or tendencies

I love the example used for emotional mood or disposition - after one's heart reminds me King David and how he appealed to God's disposition...whatever pleased the Lord, David plunged himself after it.

2. The vital center and source of one's being, emotions, and sensibilities.
The repository of one's deepest and sincerest feelings and beliefs

Wow, I mean talk about Christ-centered being put into words! Love God as the very center and source to everything we are-love Him, transparently with the most raw feelings that are tangible to us.

3. Courage; resolution; fortitude
The firmness of will or the callousness required to carry out an unpleasant task or responsibility:

Love the Lord your God with resolve (firmness of purpose; determination) - it's inevitable that we will carry our crosses daily-meaning we will suffer daily. But to do it with the glory of God in mind is to love Him with resolve.

Soul:

1 The spiritual part of a person, capable of redemption from the power of sin through divine grace

How could I not love Him for redeeming my soul?

2. A person; individual

Just as much, God made us uniquely different from one another and I believe God also calls me to love Him in a highly personal way-the way I can express my love that is most natural to me (music, praises, etc)...I will abide in the fundamental, but no one can love the Lord the way I do! My relationship with Him is the only one of it's kind (as it is with all other brothers and sisters :) and I know that I am the apple of His eye. Love the Lord your God with your soul.

Might/Strength/Mind:

1. Capacity or potential for effective action

Wow, this dictionary is convicting me. How many of us can say that we love God so much that we use all our capacity and potential for effective action to further build up his church and kingdom?

2. The faculty of thinking, reasoning, and applying knowledge

Definitely something everyone needs to work on - to push ourselves to the limit in terms of our mental capacity. My head must overflow with how to approach Scripture, understand it, and apply it (something we call...Soap) as well as taking other truths (the many, many books Lynn has for me) and applying them as well. Not only do we do all of the above, but we take every ounce of our mental capacity to understand and apply God's Word into our lives-that is loving the Lord with our minds.

A: I will love the Lord my God with my heart. I will be after His heart so that my heart would be more like His-I will throw myself at whatever His disposition is-What He wills is what I will do. I will love him as the very center and focal point of my entire being and I will do so as I am, not withholding my flaws or imperfections...I will also love Him with true resolve-never swaying in my goal of living for His glory.

I will love Him with the one part of myself that was saved by Him-His redeeming love leads me to love him with my soul. I will also love Him with my individuality-I love Him personally, unlike anyone else!

I will love Him with all of my might/strength by using all my resources, power, and actual actions to honor Him and build up his kingdom. I will also love Him through my (limited) mental capacity and do my best to understand the truths he gives me on a daily basis.

But to try to simplify it and compress it: I will love the Lord my God as the center of my life, striving to please Him in every way with a never-changing resolve. I will love the Lord my God as he saved me and made me who I am. I will love the Lord my God with everything He gave me-from my money to my hands, I will use the entirety of my physical and mental capacity to glorify Him. I will love the Lord my God, with all of my heart, soul, and might. I must actively strive for all of these things as well as praying for them to become impressed truths in my life-hopefully swiftly and surely.

P: Father, the greatest commandment You gave is difficult. Thank You for this, however-as I recognize not only the magnitude of how difficult it is, but how wonderfully right and good it is as well. You deserve nothing less and would You help me live in such a fashion? Not only do I want to love you in one way or others, but in all ways that you commanded-quite simply, to love You with absolutely everything I have. I can't do it without Your help, so please help me-break me and mold me to however which way You see fit. Make a name for Yourself through me for I want to love You with all my heart, soul, and might. It's a daily process of bringing more and more of You and less and less of myself and other useless things-Make it so, for Your glory! In Christ, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria