What is it that you desire the most from your children?

Is it their obedience?
Loyalty?
Devotion?

You probably desire all of those things. However, all of those things are the result of love. True love will lead to whole-hearted obedience, fierce loyalty, and undying devotion.

If this is what we desire from our children, how much more does our heavenly Father desire this kind of love from us? Nothing is more important than to love the Lord our God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Nothing is more important than our relationship with God.

The Pharisees asked Jesus which law was the most important. He quotes from Deuteronomy 6, known as the shema, a passage that many knew by heart. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Did you notice that this first and greatest commandment does not mention anything about our religious practices or our behavior? We are called to love God with everything we are and everything we have.

So, how do we do this thing called love?

We are to love with all our heart. We do this by aligning our hearts to God’s commands for us. In our day-to-day lives, we should make every effort to know and faithfully follow His Word.

We are to love with all our soul. We do this by honestly pouring out our feelings to God, whether good or bad, happy, or sad. We also do this by feeling sorrow for things that sadden God, and rejoicing over the things that bring God joy.

We are to love with all our mind. We do this by allowing God’s Word and who He is to be at the center of our thoughts. We allow every thought to be filtered through God’s perspective.

We are to love God every moment of our lives remembering that love is a choice and a commitment.This is a high call, but one we are enabled to do with the help of the Holy Spirit. 

We demonstrate our love for God, or lack of love for God, in the choices and decisions we make daily. We won’t always do it perfectly, but we are to be faithful to love God and love others with the days that we have been given.

God gives us the perfect example of true love by sending His Son Jesus to die for us while we are still sinners (Rom 5:8). Because God first loved us, we are free to love Him with pure commitment and with every choice we make.

As we grow in our love of God, we will see how the Holy Spirit gradually changes our desires, priorities, and our focus to align with God.

Is the greatest commandment your highest goal – to love the living God of the Bible? Join us in praying that our love for God becomes the motivation for all of our choices and the source of transformation to live like Jesus.

Peace and grace unto you,

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Week 2 Challenge:

Being set apart means the way we love others should look different from the way the world loves. How can you offer love, care, compassion, or forgiveness to someone in your life this week? If no one comes to mind, ask God to put someone on your heart and reveal how you can show them His love this week.

Week 2 Reading Plan:

Find it in your journal or on the LGG App!

Week 2 Memory Verse:

Terria Moore

Terria Moore serves on the Love God Greatly encouragement team. She is a Georgia native, but currently lives in Virginia with her husband. She is a lover of naps, Oreos, and, especially, Jesus. Her passion is to ignite a generation of millennial women to grab hold of God’s truth and cling tightly. By day, she works serving patients tirelessly in local military hospitals. At night, she loves to read and write about the lessons and love that God has poured out in her life. Despite the tumultuous circumstances of Terria’s life, God always shows Himself strong and loving.