By David ReayFriday 16 Aug 2013LifeWords DevotionalsEntertainmentReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Deuteronomy 6:4-5
4 Listen,O Israel! The LORD is our God,the LORD alone. 5 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart,all your soul,and all your strength. (NLT)
It is something of a cliché to say that we are to love God. It is our primary responsibility and privilege. But because the word ‘love’ can be elusive in meaning,we need to be clear on what it means to love God with our whole being.
Biblical love has to do with acting,speaking and thinking in such a way as to bring benefit to the loved one. Love is concerned with what pleases and blesses that other person. It is not merely a warm,fuzzy feeling-though it can include that. If we say we love another human being,we will want to do good to them and for them. We will want to enrich their life. In doing so,we will put their interests above our own.
So with God. We live life in such a way as to please him. Our basic life question is not “What is in it for me?” but “What is in it for him?” It is not enough to sing love songs to God or to preach sermons on how we are to love God. We aim to please him and not to wound him.
Sadly,we can too often live life on the basis of pleasing ourselves and hoping God will help us do just that. This is upside-down thinking. Perhaps we need to discipline ourselves in such a way that our waking thoughts each day are to do with how we might that very day please God. That doesn’t come naturally. It comes supernaturally.
Blessings
David Reay