We Are Defined by Our Love for God
A. Deut. 6:4-5, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord
is one! You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all
your strength. Our love for God is the defining characteristic
that determines our actions in life. If there is one fixed point
around which our lives and the defining characteristics of our
personality revolve, the love of God should be it.
There is no statement more fundamental, far?reaching or important
than the famous statement of Moses to Israel: You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
and with all your strength. When asked what was the greatest
commandment in Gods law, Jesus quoted this text (Matt. 22:37).
This reveals the single most important reason and motivation for
living our lives.
a. The object of your love and affection is a statement about
your character. What do
you live for, for whom do you live? What controls and motivates
your choices and
decisions in life? What you love most in life makes a comment,
to everyone
around you, about your character. And believe me when I say, Character
really
counts, That is an absolute, undeniable truth.
(A) Arsene Houssaye said, Tell me whom you love, and I will
tell you what you
are. This is undeniably true with respect to your relationship
with God. If
someone wants to make an assessment of your character, all they
need to know
is the answer to one question: how deep is your love for our Creator?
When that question has been answered accurately, the very root
of your personal being will have been discovered. And if the truth
is that you do not love God, then nothing else can compensate
for that deficiency.
To love Him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our
strength means that many other concerns (some of which,
by themselves, are quite important) must be subordinated to our
love for God. And this is not something you do once and then forget
about it. It is an every day matter. A daily decision with which
we are faced constantly. When we neglect this daily decision to
love God, it doesnt take long for us to become selfish,
carnal and enemies of the cross.
(1) We must renounce all other loves for the love of God and find
in and with Him, all the loves which, for his sake, we had foregone.
(2) Acts 20:32.
Spur - 01/05/03 pm
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