Loving God With All Our Heart, Soul, and Mind

Harold Hancock

Matt 22:37-38

Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. "This is the first and great commandment.

It is difficult to determine with any precision the significance of each term heart, soul, and mind as used in Matthew 22:37-38. The three terms are seemingly used together for effect and emphasis. Together they suggest that our love for God must be:

Emotional and intellectual We love God because we know God. The better we know God, the easier it is to love Him — He is God (Genesis 1:1); He is our Creator (Genesis 1:26-27); He gives us life (Acts 17:25) and every good gift and perfect gift (James 1:17); He purposed and provided us the opportunity to be saved through Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:3-7). We love Him because He first loved us (1John 4:19).

Undivided We love God with ALL of our heart, soul, and mind. We cannot love God and the world (1John 2:15-17). We cannot serve two masters — "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other (Matthew 6:24).

More We must love God more than anyone or anything. God must be first in our lives — "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). God will not settle for second place in our hearts and lives.

Loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind is a choice that we make, and those who love Him with all of their heart, soul, and mind choose to:

Hate Evil You who love the LORD, hate evil! (Psalms 97:10). Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good (Romans 12:10).

Keep God s Commandments By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous (1John 5:2-3).

Love the Brethren If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also (1John 4:20-21).

Love not the World Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1John 2:15). Friendship with the world is enmity with God; Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4:4).

Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. It is the first and great commandment! (Matthew 22:38).

Saints

Dean Bullock

We read of saints in the New Testament. Who were they? Were they deceased persons who had been canonized (declared saints by some ecclesiastical authority)? Or were they alive and on earth when the epistles of the New Testament were written? Were they persons who had received "a second work of grace" and thus made a distinct group among the redeemed? Or were all obedient believers saints?

These are good questions, and timely. They help us to get at the truth respecting matters. There were saints at Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi and many other places. They were on earth when the epistles of the New Testament were written and were much alive. They were not deceased persons whose names had been "placed in the catalogue (canon) of saints and commended to perpetual veneration and invocation." They were people separated from sin and set apart or consecrated to the holy service of God—thus sanctified people.

The Greek word "hagios" is translated saint . W. E. Vine (Expository Dictionary) says it "signifies separated (among Greeks, dedicated to the gods), and hence, in Scripture in its moral and spiritual significance, separated from sin and therefore consecrated to God, sacred...In the plural, as used of believers, it designates all such and is not applied merely to persons of exceptional holiness, or to those who, having died, were characterized by exceptional acts of saintliness." He cites 2Thess.1:10 to prove that the Lord's saints are described also as believers and constitute the whole number of the redeemed.

When people perfect their faith by submitting to the gospel of God's grace, they are saved from sin and are set apart or consecrated to the service of God. They are saints.

"I am a Christian but not a saint" stems from a lack of understanding of New Testament teaching. The Corinthians were saint (1Cor. 1:2), but they sinned and were urged to repent.

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. (Acts 17:11)

Current Memory Verse:

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. (Acts 17:11)