"Love the Lord your God, with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind, this is the first and the greatest commandment." Matthew 22:37
Who of you has read this verse and passed by without a second thought?
*hand raised high.
Until last night, and then again tonight. I have been having this thought, when Jesus walked the earth, He called his followers to leave all they had to follow Him. So I had this thought as I was driving home from the Dr. the other day, and looking at some people walking along the side of the road. What if Jesus literally flagged my car down, and said, "Get out of your car and come with me..." I thought about what I would say. Do you my friends...know what you would say?
My first thought was of my children, and my husband...but He said, we needed to be willing to leave them too, and I'm sure of His disciples had families that they left to follow Him quite literally. It's really amazing to me that I have read those stories throughout the gospels of people dropping all they had to literally chase after Jesus. He was their biggest priority.
Thankfully today, I do not feel as though the Lord is going to knock on my door and tell me leave my children standing behind me...but I can forsake all my priorities for Him. And do I? Right now? No. But I'm trying to wrap my mind around what it means to "love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul and mind." Which means it is, my every thought, my every feeling, and with all things that encompass my soul.
Do I do that? Well, it's a goal. And I'm dumbfounded as to why these thoughts have never entered into my mind. If he truly is my Master, My great protector, My shield, My comforter, My Companion and Greatest Friend, My Father and My Shepherd, My Potter and My Gardner, then why oh why is it difficult to think about giving Him my everything?
After all, He gave me His best. He gave me His everything. Do I not after all of that, consider Him trustworthy? To obey Him is one thing, but to do it out of love? That is quite another. I do fear the Lord with reverence because of the great power of His being...but do I love Him? Do I long for Him? There truly are day where I do hunger and thirst for Him, and maybe this is how it is...but it doesn't feel right when I say "I love Him, most of the time..." How would I feel if my husband came home and said, "I don't love you today, but I might love you tomorrow!"
Oh! I would die! But the Lord hears those type of statements all the time in our attitudes, and our actions. And for that, I'm needing to repent. I recognize it's an all the time thing, and not a "when I need it..." thing. Lately I have sought the Lord more than any other time in my life, and my love for Him has deepened and grown, but I want it to be the first thing on my lips in the morning and the last thing on my lips at night. I want my heart to sing His praises of adoration all through the day, and well into the night. I want to be as if I am "falling in love" with the Savior. And this is why He represents Christ and the groom and the church as the bride...
Friends, He is our long awaited Groom! He is that one your heart longs for! Our earthly husbands are surly one of our greatest gifts, but the one who should first hold the key to our hearts...is Christ...
I'm examining my heart today...
And this is love, that a man lay down His life for another...isn't that what the scriptures say?
That is exactly what He did for me, and for you, and I feel a host of many emotions when I really spend the time and focus on that truth.
I heard a song that said, "It's gotta be, more like falling love, then something to believe in, More like loosing my heart then giving my allegiance...caught up, called out, come take a look at me now, it's like I've falling, in love."
Does that describe your relationship with the Lord? If not, why? And how can it be fixed...
As I answer those questions for myself, why don't you all ponder them as well, because friends, He loved you first, and then He offered up His very life for you, and when we waver as He asks us to follow Him? Oh friends, lets not miss out on the greatest love imaginable.
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