"You Shall Love the Lord Your God with All Your Heart,"

“And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” (Matthew 22:27-28 ESV)

Is it possible for us to fulfill this commandment while we are still earthbound? I know some who say yes, it is; many say it comes with time; and yet others say a resounding no. What is the answer? I do not know that there is a definitive answer to this question.

The second part of this scripture, the second commandment Christ speaks of, “And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” (v39), I believe we can fulfill. If the love of God is in your heart, it is easier to love and forgive even the greatest of offenses.

If you look at this commandment literally, which is exactly how we should read it, loving God with all our heart, and soul, and mind means completely purging our heart of the desires of the world. This is impossible, as we know there is no such thing as sinless perfection. Therefore, any sinful desires detract from our love and desire for God.

Yet, as always, there is hope. We know from Romans that, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (5:8) Despite our sins, God still offers salvation to the faithful. In our salvation, John tells us, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 John 4:16). We have the love of God in us; therefore, we can share the love of God.

We are, by nature, sinful creatures, so, in my mind, as we grow in sanctification, the love of God fills us more and more, and we desire God more and more. The more the love of God fills our hearts, the more of our sinful desires are pushed out of our hearts.

John Piper put it this way, “Jesus makes clear demands about whom we must love and how we must love. Jesus demands that we love according to the absolute standards that the Creator God has established. The great and first commandment to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind is not a call to abandon our heart’s desires but to look to God as the only one who will perfectly and eternally satisfy our longing to love one that is supremely lovely.” (emphasis mine)

We cannot remove the heart’s desires. But when we change our daily view of life’s satisfaction by focusing on God, we see exactly what Piper states: we recognize that our source of unending, unconditional, perfect, and eternal love is God. Which leads us to another belief I share with Piper: that God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.

Can we, in our current state, love God with all our heart, and soul, and mind? I do not think so, but each day we focus our lives in Christ, we grow deeper and deeper in love with Him. As He molds us in our lives, we come closer and closer to fulfilling His commandment. We will be able to love God with all our heart, and soul, and mind. It may not be until we see Him beckoning us just over that hill that we can fulfill that commandment. But we will fulfill it.

Christ is hope. He is our only hope. Do you trust in Him that much? If not, I pray you see, you have hope, just like everyone of us who lives the life of a faithful sinner. Seek Christ.

Grace and Peace.