How to Actually Love God with All Your Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength
By Kelly Balarie
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” – Mark 12:30 NIV
All I heard was, “Blah…blah, blah.”
Although embarrassing to admit, I saw my husband’s mouth moving with my eyes, but I didn’t hear a word he was saying. My mind was somewhere else. Sure, two minutes ago, I was deeply listening to the many ways God was speaking to him. But now? Now my heart and mind were racing ahead to the rest of the day…
After this, I need to get the kitchen cleaned, and the kids are about to come downstairs for breakfast. What am I even making them? I wonder if they will have their lunch boxes packed up in time for us to get to school. Did I move the dirty laundry to the dryer?
“Uh-huh.” I say to my husband.
I didn’t know what in the world he was saying, but I’m sure I’d agree with it -- if I heard it. Feeling guilty, though, I aimed to reengage and tap back into the conversation. I leaned forward.
All the same, I couldn’t get rid of that sinking, convicting feeling that my husband is worth more. He is worth all my attention -- for divided attention is not real affection at all.
The same holds true with our relationship with God. Divided attention results in dwindling affection for God and, ultimately, depletes real heart devotion.
God is not worthy of a part of me; He is worthy of all of me.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” – Mark 12:30 NIV
How do we love God with all our heart, all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength? How do we give God our all instead of giving Him a small divided, distracted, or double-minded part of us?
It is easy to know a verse, in concept; it is a whole other thing to live it practically. Let’s break down this verse, into its four main parts, so we can practically live it more than we theoretically know it:
1. “With all your heart”
What does it mean to love God with “all our heart”? The word “heart” in this verse, translated to “kardia” (in Greek), is defined by Strong’s Dictionary as “thoughts or feelings”. Importantly, our heart directs our thoughts and feelings. When we feel a thing, we tend to think a thing. Managing our heart, starts with managing our emotions, as we make them submit to the truth of God’s Word. His Word is the final word, even above our emotions.
2. “With all your soul.”
The soul is that in which we have life; it is our affections and our aversions. To love God with all our soul is to love Him in a way where we love what He loves and are averse to what He is averse to. Even in hobbies or enjoyments, we can give thanks to God that we get to enjoy them!
3. “With all your mind.”
As we investigate the Greek word, for “mind,” we learn it means “imagination, mind and understanding.” To have spiritual understanding is to stand under God’s truth. It is to allow His truth to be the highest standing (over all else). We love God with all our mind and imagination, as we fix our thoughts on heavenly things and on what is good, true, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise.
4. “With all your strength.”
To love God with all our might is to seek, with every fabric of our being to: draw near to God, to fight the good fight of faith, to run our race with perseverance, to not give up and to pray without ceasing.
When God is our all-in-all, we love Him with our all!
Intersecting Faith & Life:
What category – heart, soul, mind or strength – do you find it is hard to give God your all? How do you back down, get distracted, give up, or waver?
I watched a movie recently. It was a story of a group of people who were embarking on a great race! All the adventurous runners stood on the starting line. They wanted to give their all to the race ahead. All their mind was applied to the best track to take. All their soul was dedicated to this pursuit. All their heart wanted the prize. All their strength would be applied to run the last leg. With eagerness, this is how we run for God; He is worthy of our all and by His grace we can give it to Him. Even if you don’t feel you have it in you, God has enabling power to help you. Why not call out to Him today? He helps us in our weakness and empowers us by His greatness.
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/fotostorm
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