Loving God Is More Than a Sunday Thing
Devotional Scripture: Mark 12:28-34
Key Verse: “Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall 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 12:29-30
Believing there is a God is not the same as loving God. Love requires action. For example, I believe mushrooms exist. I’ve seen them and touched them and even tasted them on occasion, but I don’t love them. In fact, I don’t like them at all, which is proven by my lack of action. I have no desire to go mushroom hunting. I have zero mushroom recipes and no idea how to cook them. And if you serve them to me, I will either push them to the side of my plate or make them magically appear on my husband’s.
However, I do love avocados, and I can prove it. I eat one every day. There are always several avocados in various stages of ripeness, taking up their fair share of room in the produce bowl that lives at the center of my kitchen island. I slice them and put them on salads, hamburgers, chicken, meatloaf, and pretty much anything else I make for dinner.
My favorite is taco night when I mush them up into the most delectable of all: guacamole. Basically, a day without an avocado taking some form on my plate is a subpar culinary experience. Come eat at my table, and you’ll see for yourself that my actions prove my love for avocados.
And the same is true for our love of God. Those who genuinely love God live it. The Bible supports this truth with multiple Scriptures. James, the brother of Jesus, put it this way, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” (James 2:14).
The apostle John put it this way, “Whoever says, “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected” (1 Jn. 2:4-5).
And Jesus put it this way, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me” (Jn. 14:21).
How Much Love Is Enough?
It’s not that we gain God’s love through works, but that we prove our love for God with our works. If we say we love God but have no idea what He desires and no desire to find out, do we really love God? According to the Bible, no, we don’t. Which begs the question, how much is enough? Does attending church prove our love for God? Does not cursing or giving to the poor or consistent tithing prove our love for God?
Maybe, but maybe not.
If we seek to calculate love for God in terms of enough and not enough, then we’re missing the point. If I made dinner for my husband and then said, “Is that enough love for you, or do I have to do more?” there’s no doubt he’d be offended. And if you were there, I have no doubt you’d be thinking: what kind of a question is that?
However, since we love quantifiable measurements, God has graciously given us one. How much love is enough for God? All the love we have to offer. Jesus said the greatest commandment is this: “to 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).
In other words, every single piece of our heart is in total adoration of God at all times. Including every thought, motivation, action (and reaction), goal, decision, and intention all focused on Christ and His glory every second of every day.
So how much love is enough? Your entire heart, mind, and soul always and forever committed to God.
God Gives Us What We Need to Love
Perhaps that sounds like a lot, but compared to the glory God deserves, the totality of our every breath breathed out for God is still minuscule. Just for kicks, let’s pretend Adam and Eve never sinned and evil didn’t exist, and we loved God perfectly every day. Sounds heavenly, right? (No pun intended.) But even then, God would still deserve more love.
It’s impossible for us to love God fully in our sinful nature, but that doesn’t negate the command. To love God with all of our heart and mind and strength is a lot, but by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, God equips us to do just that. Daily we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16), the strength of Christ (Phil. 4:13), the heart of Christ (Ezek. 36:26), and the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).
We no longer have any excuses. Yet we squelch our ability to love God when we quench the work of the Holy Spirit.
Many in the church today seek to love God categorically. They love God on Sunday morning, but they give Him little thought on Monday. They love God before meals, habitually thanking Him for their food, but pay little attention to Him when they’re on the go (or on the couch, for that matter). They may even love God at Bible study, but their daily decisions reveal a different story.
We Find Time for What We Love
Loving God is more than a Sunday thing. It’s more than a Bible study thing or a once-a-year Easter thing. It’s more than a tithing thing or a give-to-the-poor kind of thing. It’s not an “I’ll do it when I’m not so tired” kind of thing, or when it agrees with my politics kind of thing. Nor does it have anything to do with how we feel.
Loving God is a heart and mind kind of thing. It’s a Jesus first, and us last, every day of the week kind of thing. It’s a continuous quest to capture every thought and motive and movement for the glory and kingdom of God.
Here’s the bottom line: we will find ways to incorporate into our lives (as much as possible) whatever it is we love. Those who love to read will find time to read. Those who love to cook will cook. Movie buffs will watch movies. Music enthusiasts will listen to music. And those who love fountain drinks will go out of their way for the best fountain drink in town.
It’s simple deductive reasoning.
So, based on your actions, what do you love? Or better yet, whom do you love? Those who genuinely love God will live it, not perfectly, mind you. Even the most Spirit-filled believers fall short this side of heaven.
But the devoted will die trying because loving God is more than a check the box kind of thing. Instead, it’s a come what may—no matter what day of the week—I’m with Jesus kind of thing. Heart, mind, and soul, I belong to Him.
