And thou shalt love the LORD...
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God
with all thine heart,
and with all thy soul,
and with all thy might.
(Deuteronomy 6:5 KJV)
When I think about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins, I realize that God didn't just give us His son... He gave Him up. He had completely no reservations. He gave us not a piece of Himself, but the whole lot of it. In essence, He gave us (a very undeserving world) the gift of Himself. Scripture says:
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Colossians 1:19-20 NIV
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
(emphasis mine)
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Now think about this. If God withheld not His only Son, but sent Him into the world, took that chance for us in the hope that we would accept Him and receive that free gift of salvation; how much more should we willingly offer Him, if not our WHOLE lives? What would it look like if we offered Him EVERYTHING?
Thinking about all this brings tears to my eyes. Every day I get to realize that the stakes are so much higher than I thought. I thought that all He wanted was a piece of me...now I see that He deserves more than just a part of me. He deserves - actually demands - for EVERY part of me. When Jesus talks to His disciples about the cost of discipleship, He literally concludes that parable by placing that same demand on them. He says:
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Luke 14:33 NIV
In the same way, those of you who do not give up EVERYTHING you have cannot be my disciples.
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This brings to mind the phenomenal story of the woman who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume just before His suffering, death and crucifixion. Here's a little snippet from that passage:
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Mark 14:3 NIV
While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
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Now realize that people don't break jars - they open them. This woman had fully set out to do what she desired to for Jesus. There were no second thoughts about it. There were no reservations. There was no turning back. She not only presented before Jesus the very best she had, but also withheld not from pouring on Him ALL the perfume. If she'd opened the jar then maybe she would have poured only a little perfume and reserve some for herself (like most of us would do). But, she went all out. She poured out what was worth a year's wages - she gave Him EVERYTHING.
The funny thing about that story is that the disciples themselves began rebuking her indignantly, claiming that it was such a waste and that the perfume would be sold and the money given to the poor (Matthew 26:8). Since they were closer to Jesus, you would think that they should have known better. Jesus, however, understood the woman's powerful gesture of love, stood up for her and said, "Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me."
Remember the story of the widow's offering? While the rest of the crowd gave large amounts out of their abundance, she gave extravagantly what she couldn't afford. It was her way of telling God: With all that I am, and with everything You have given me, I will love and serve You. Here's what Jesus said about that:
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Mark 12:43-44 NIV
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said,
"I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.
They all gave out of their wealth;
but she, out of her poverty,
put in EVERYTHING - ALL she had to live on."
(emphasis mine)
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I'm not about to ask us to give an offering (in case you're wondering 👀). All I want is for us to realize that the stakes may be much higher than we think. Our relationship with God is not merely for us to benefit ourselves as we ask Him for blessings and wealth and health and every other worldly comfort we desire. Loving Him is not just about going to church and reading our Bibles and praying everyday. There is more to it than just that. Loving Him requires sacrifice on our part.
Reading that first verse again had me doing a little bit of reflection and introspection. It didn't just end at "And thou shalt love the LORD..." Instead, God specifically outlines how He wants it done. Here's what I drew from that: It matters not that we merely love Him, but that we love Him 'WITH ALL.'
God loved the world so much that He gave us His very best - His one and only Son. He demonstrated His great love for us by letting Jesus lay down His life for us, while we were yet in sin. Question is: Is my love for Him as rich and as pure and as true and as unconditional as this?
I know without a doubt that I love Him; but I'm not too sure that I truly love Him with everything in me. I'm not too sure that I'd love Him the same if certain things that I hold on to dearly were swept away. I'm not too sure that I'd love Him enough to willingly lay my life down for the sake of His Name (if it ever came to that). I'm not too sure that I'd gladly lose my life for His sake. If truly loving God means that I do so with everything in me, then I still fall short... I'm yet to attain the mark.
You're probably thinking to yourself, "So where do we go from here?" Well I asked myself that same question. Truth is, I'm not too sure I have the answer, but this passage right here could be a start...
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Romans 6:13-14 NIV
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body
so that you obey its evil desires.
Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer EVERY part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
For sin shall no longer be your master,
because you are not under the law, but under grace.
(emphasis mine)
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Much as sin is the highlight of this passage, realize that there are other seemingly harmless things that could cause us not to offer every part of ourselves to Him. It could be as subtle as loving yourself more than you love Him, or loving the things of this world (not necessary the sinful ones) more than you love him. In fact, John in his epistle says: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the father is not in them (1 John 1:15).
If our desire for, say, a spouse, a booming business, an expensive car, a great name or massive wealth is greater than our love for Him, then we're pretty much in that category, and are bound to withhold our love for Him if it meant that we had to give up all those things for His sake.
God wants to get us to the point that we can with confidence say: With all that I am, and with everything You have given me, I will serve and obey You Lord. With all that I am, I will love You Lord. It may take us a while to get there, but I believe that this is what He'd want for every one of His children ~ that they'd love Him WITH ALL that they are. It looks like it's going to be quite a journey, but we can take comfort in knowing that we are not alone. He will Himself teach us what it means to truly love Him with everything, and will help us do the same because He loves us.
I know that this may be little sudden for a first blog of the year 🥲, but I believe that God would want us to embark on this journey with Him. Last year we did quite a lot on the subject of loving God, all of which I believe was a foundation for something greater - well at least for me it was.
In light of this, it's my hope and prayer that these words will have as much impact on you as they had on me - maybe even greater; and that your hearts will be stirred to love Him as He demands ~ with EVERYTHING.
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Matthew 10:37-39 NIV
"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me;
anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me
is not worthy of me;
and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me
is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
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Luke 9:23-24 NKJV
Then He said to them all,
"If anyone desires to come after Me,
let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily,
and follow Me.
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it."
❤️
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