Love Him More...
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 4:57AM 
Hello, Everyone!
Susie Larson here...
And to those visiting, I say welcome.
I post every Wednesday and my sole purpose is to nourish your soul along the way.
If you take the time to post on my blog in March, you may win a $10.00 gift card to either Caribou or Target (your choice). So drop me a note and say hi!
Now on to my topic.
If you've heard me speak before, you've no doubt heard me drill home the message of God's boundless love. It's not that we loved God, but that He loved us (1 John 4:10), and it's not about how high we can jump, but that He stooped down to make us great (Psalm 18:35).
The Church is full of striving, jumping, straining people. We're exhausted from trying to earn enough God points to be good enough, or just so we won't seem so bad.
Though this is not new news, it's certainly great news...God loves us.
He sent His Son to pay our debt that we might be free, forgiven, and linked in fellowship with Him.
Love, love, beautiful love, that's what we have access to every single day.
His mercies await us with each new morning and His faithfulness is there during those dark nights of the soul.
The more we let His love pour in to every pore of our being, the more we will be healed, restored, and assured that He's enough for us.
Yes, His love is the best news of all.
His love is the foundation of the free and true life of every Believer.
But where do we go from there?
Mark 18: 30 says:
The Lord our God is the One and Only Lord and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength...
After pondering this verse for a while, I realized how necessary - for me at least - were each of the phrases in this verse.
I have many aspects to my character (as do you) and God deserves for my love and devotion to ooze out of every expression of my being.
"I love You with all of my heart..."
This begs the question, "Do I have passions and affections that undermine my devotion to Christ? Do my hopes and dreams line up with His wonderful call on my life?" To love God with all of my heart is to wrap all of who I am into the idea that I was made by Him and for Him. Living for Him is my highest goal, my greatest honor, and my deepest pleasure.
I can think of a few things in my life that compete at times with God's request that He be my highest passion. How about you? What comes to mind?
"I love You with all of my soul..."
In the soul I find my fleshly ambitions and desires. I find unrest because I'm not resting in Him. To love the Lord with all my soul is to make my lesser ambitions bow to call of God on my life. When I'm tempted to chase after lesser things, I say loud enough for my ears to hear, "I've been crucified with Christ, and it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loves me and gave Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20). When there's unrest in my soul it's often due to two things: other's opinions of me and my opinion of God. Do I care too much what people think of me? And will I allow myself to be stressed by all the things I have to carry, forgetting that God carries me? I've come far in the area of other's opinions. There is now a much bigger gap between how people affect me and how God affects me. But still, loving God with all my soul seems the hardest of these for me, but definitely the most liberating.
Are there areas in your life that call for the cleansing, healing work of the Holy Spirit?
I love you with all my mind...
For me to love God with all of my mind, I must refuse to give my thoughts free reign. To love God with my mind is to be transformed daily by the renewing of my mind. When I rehearse His promises more than I rehearse my woes, I'm loving God with all of my mind. When I choose to trust Him when I'd rather worry, I'm loving Him with my mind. When I put strict boundaries around where I allow my thoughts to go, I'm cultivating a healthy atmosphere for faith to grow and peace to stay. He keeps in perfect peace those whose minds are set upon Him. May I love Him with my whole mind!
How about your thought patterns? Can you think of an area where you consistently struggle (e.g. worry, other's opinions, fear, pride, etc.)?
I love you with all my strength...
When I use my best energies and my first fruits to serve the living God, I am loving Him with all my strength. When His Kingdom, more than my fame, is my highest goal, I am loving Him with all my strength. When in sickness or in health, I offer Him myself, I am loving Him with everything I have. No matter if my occupation ignites the admiration of my peers or not, if I do it as unto the Lord, He is pleased, and I am blessed.
Are you walking out your God-given call? Are you heading toward the Promised Land that He has set aside for you? Or are you living a life of responses and reactions to whatever stands in front of you?
May we all take in - every single day - a fresh revelation of God's abundant, abounding love.
And may we live a life of response to that love. Loving Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Have a most blessed and joy-filled week.
Love you all~
Reader Comments (10)
You are going to do great things!Turn your back on fear and worry and trust the God has you right where He wants you.
Looking forward to meeting you!
Be blessed~
Through and through, He wants us free.
What a beautiful thing.
Bless you~
Thanks for your post.
And what you say is true!
It's so easy to get caught in the trap of "reacting to people" rather than responding to God.
The Bible says, "The fear of the man is a snare (a trap), but the fear of the Lord brings freedom."
Amen and amen.
Thanks so much for the note.
I'm glad you had a good time at the conference.
It was a great event.
My respect for the Hearts at Home team grows with every conference. What an amazing group of families!
Blessings to you~
I so appreciate your active, tangible faith.
May God give you abundant rest and profound peace this week.
Have a blessed Easter holiday~