I like this verse. The main reason is because Jesus quoted it and expanded on it in the New Testament (Mark 12:30). But another, less significant reason that I like it is because it is not expected. We think of the Old Testament as fire and wrath. Of “thou shalt nots.” We picture the children of Israel walking a narrow path with sheer cliffs of fiery lava off one side and crocodile infested waters filling the other side. One misstep and they become crème brulee a la flambé. Or they fall off the other side and they are crocodile chow. But there is more to the Old Testament than rules, laws, fiery consequences and judgment. There is a loving FATHER who wants us to love HIM. So HE tells us how…
And you shall love the LORD your GOD
The assumption—your GOD. GOD is speaking to HIS people. At the time of this verse, HE is speaking through Moses to the Israelites. GOD is their GOD. And the LORD tells Moses to tell Israel Everyone must come—men, women, children, and even the foreigners who live in your towns. And each new generation will listen and learn to worship the LORD their GOD with fear and trembling and to do exactly what is said in GOD’s law (Deuteronomy 31:12-13 CEV). GOD is not solely Israel’s but for all. In Mark, Jesus tells us the same beginning Love the LORD your GOD. Jews and non-Jews are to worship HIM. Love HIM. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28 ESV). How exciting to know that I am included! So now, how do I walk this path to loving GOD, my LORD? With all your heart
The heart. Many think of it as the seat of our emotions. But emotions are unstable. They are not logical, they are emotional! The heart is a greater symbol than just emotions. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, and not reluctantly or under compulsion, for GOD loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV). This verse is talking about being a cheerful giver but what is the reference to the heart? I bolded it. It is about a decision being made. A willful act. The NCV also says you have decided in your heart. The CEV uses make up your own mind. While the NKJV and NASB both say as he purposes in his heart. And to finish formally ASV says as he hath purposed in his heart while KJV speaketh it as he purposeth in his heart. I am not attempting to explain an exhaustive symbolic meaning of the heart. But for a glimpse? I focus on a part. A glimpse showing the heart as a place where decisions are made. Purposed. A place where our will is decided. Love the LORD your GOD with all your heart? Make a willful decision. A purposeful act to love the LORD. As purposeful as taking one step forward on my path to loving GOD, I decided in my heart to love HIM.
With all your soul
To do an exhaustive study of the soul, would be exhausting for me. Watchman Nee spends hundreds of pages in his book The Spiritual Man differentiating the soul from the human spirit. I’ll give the abridged version—maybe that means I understand something of what Nee says! The soul is the self, the living being of the person. The human spirit is GOD’s created agency. The soul is the result of the created agency (human spirit) meeting flesh. And the LORD GOD formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (Genesis 2:7 NKJV). The dust of the ground—the flesh. Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life—human spirit. And when the two mixed, a third uniquely created thing occurred man became a living being—the soul (self). Love the LORD with all my soul? I am to love the LORD with all my being. All that is myself is to be given in love to HIM. As I walk the path of the Christian life, I am to give myself in love to HIM.
With all your might
Might. Strength. Power. My nifty Bible Reference says might is “effective power.” I like that, although I’m not sure what ineffective power would be. Maybe the old asteroids game where the spaceship is flying out of control blasting everything in its path? Pretty powerful but useless. I’m speaking on the exact opposite: effective power. To take all the strength I possess and under my willful control use it to Love the LORD. And you shall love the LORD your GOD with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Deuteronomy 6:5 NASB
To summarize? I am to love the LORD. With all my will. With all of myself. With all of the power I control. And that's not all because Jesus expanded it. He added mind and strength in place of might. The bottom line? A process. I am to love the LORD with my being and to be reminded to love HIM continually. It is not a goal to achieve but a path to walk.
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