It was an Old Testament command (Dt. 6:5), the first and most important one, and still one we must obey. Jesus put it this way: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind and with all thy strength” (Mk.12:28-30 KJV). How was this command fulfilled in the Old Testament? How does this “great commandment” (Mt. 22:36-40) apply to us today?
If the greatest ability of man is to love (1 Cor. 13:13), then it is only natural that the greatest command from God is to love Him with all our being – heart, soul, mind, and strength. This may seem difficult to do, but as we look at each aspect, we see a progression of this love.
In The Old Testament
Let’s look first at some verses that suggest what God required of the Old Testament believers.
With All Their Heart
“And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the LORD, and His statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good” (Dt. 10:12,13,16).
“And Samuel said, ‘Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams’” (1 Sam. 15:22).
With All Their Soul
“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD” (Lev. 19:18).
“To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice” (Prov. 21:3).
“He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Mic. 6:8).
With All Their Mind
“I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs” (Ps. 69:30-31).
“For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hos. 6:6).
With All Their Strength
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl. 12:13).
“I will declare Thy name unto My brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee” (Ps. 22:22).
Speaking of the coming Messiah, God said to Moses: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him” (Dt. 18:18-19).
We see, then, that to fulfill this command, the Old Testament believers had to obey the revealed will of God as they knew it, while waiting for the Prophet and Savior whom God would send: “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen ... what He has prepared for him that waits for Him” (Isa. 64:4).
In The New Testament
But now that the Savior, Jesus Christ has come, we read: “As it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:9-10). Once our hearts turn to Him, with the Spirit’s help, love can be shed abroad with our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
With All Our Heart
When we are born into this world, our hearts are far from God, and there is one thing lacking. The rich young ruler who came to Jesus (Mk. 10) asked the question, “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” He thought he had thoroughly kept the Law, but recognized that he still needed something to inherit eternal life. He thought God owed him a reward for his righteousness. When Jesus told him he still lacked one thing, He challenged him with the greatest commandment which he had ignored. He needed to love and follow Jesus (Mk. 10:26).
Nicodemus also recognized that there was something he lacked. Jesus answered his question before he could even ask it: “Ye must be born again” (Jn. 3:7). For it is by grace we are saved through faith, not of works, lest we should boast (Eph. 2:8-9). “With the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom. 10:10).
To love the Lord our God with all our heart then is to believe on His Son, Jesus Christ, putting no confidence in our own works. When this happens, God gives us a new heart for Him and for our neighbor.
With All Our Soul
After we are saved, the Spirit makes it apparent that “one thing is needful” (Lk. 10:42) – to learn at His feet as Mary did (Lk. 10:39). Martha worried too much about meal preparation, and asked the Lord to get Mary to help. Jesus pointed out just how important it is to hear Him, and compared to serving, called it “that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Then later He said, “The life is more than food, and the body more than raiment” (Lk. 12:23).
When we learn of Him and His love for us, we will then be able to obey the second great commandment – to love our neighbor as ourselves, or, as Jesus said to His disciples, to love one another (Mt. 22:39; Jn. 15:12). To love the Lord our God with all our soul, then, is to learn of Him so that we can love one another: “For he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen?” (1 Jn. 4:20).
With All Our Mind
The more we learn of Him, the more our minds will turn toward worship. The man born blind (Jn. 9:1-34) had little time after receiving his sight to learn of the One who had healed him; he didn’t really know if Jesus was a typical man, a sinner, or not. But the one thing he knew, he clearly stated: “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” How quickly he came to the point of worship, knowing only what God did for him through Christ.
How lovely, then, that all believers, knowing what Jesus has done for them, have that opportunity to worship Him. Is it not at the Lord’s Supper that we collectively fulfill His request to remember Him (Lk. 22:19)? In Acts 20:7, the disciples came together on the first day of the week, not to listen to the great apostle Paul, but to break bread in remembrance of the Lord Jesus. To love the Lord our God with all our mind is to remember what we know of the Lord Jesus when we gather around the Lord’s table.
With All Our Strength
Paul, the one who took the gospel to the Gentile world, said, “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14). All the opposition to the gospel he met with, he simply put behind him as unworthy of thought. Why? Because he had been commissioned: “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). He reached out to those areas where the gospel had not yet been proclaimed (2 Cor. 10:16). He worked tirelessly to bring the gospel to everyone, without being paid to do it (2 Cor. 11:7-9). Is this our goal?
The Lord Jesus gave us this great commission: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mk. 16:15). Look around your home, your workplace and your neighborhood. There are many “creatures” there in need of “the hope of eternal life” (Ti. 3:7). This is a good work, but it requires strength. To love the Lord thy God with all our strength is to persevere in proclaiming to others this good news – beginning with family, friends and neighbors.
To love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, then, is:
To believe the gospel and receive eternal life, for life is what our hearts lack.
To learn of Christ, for love is what our souls need.
To remember Him in the Lord’s Supper, for worship reflects what our minds come to know.
To communicate the gospel, for our strength enables us to perpetuate this cycle of love for our great God.
Life and love, worship and work, our whole selves presented as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God – is “more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Rom. 12:1; Mk. 12:33).
By Tom Steere
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