info DAY 1 // VISION TO LOVE GOD
RORY WHITNEY – CANDLEWOOD CHURCH IN OMAHA, NE
“Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’”
– Matthew 22:7 (NLT)
As I sit at my desk and think about this devotional, “To Love God,” I think to myself, “WOW, what is it that I could say that would encourage anyone to grow in this area of their lives.” I thought about disciplines or practices that have helped me in staying focused on this area of my life over the last thirty-five years, so here goes. I believe to love God will require us to embrace all three of these areas every day of our lives.
HEART
When I think of my heart, I think about my emotions; that which separates me from the animal world. A simple practice that I have done with my wife and with my God is to say, “Good Morning, Good Night, and I Love You”. The Bible says that out of the heart the mouth speaks. I pray daily that I would love God more today than I did yesterday. My desire is to grow in this area of my life; to feel joy, grief, contentment, excitement, courage, peace, laughter, etc.
God wants us as His; to embrace our humanity and to experience all of this as we walk day by day with the Creator of the universe that loves us completely.
SOUL
When I think of your soul, I think of who you are. You are the only one ever created, there will never be a duplicate. God has entrusted us with gifts, talents, and passions. These attributes are unique to you and only you. How is someone to love God with all their soul? Eric Liddell was a missionary that could run like the wind. Before he went to China, he ran in the Olympics. As he was training, his sister became concerned that running was interfering with his work for God. Eric responded to her with a quote that I will never forget. He said this, “But Sister, when I run I feel the very pleasure of God.”
Here’s the answer to loving God with all your soul: discover your talents, gifts, & passions. Commit them to the Lord. Roll up your sleeves in your local church and give back to God all that you have been given and you, too, will feel “the very pleasure of God.”
MIND
What you think about is who you are and will continue to be. My experience in this area of my life is very simple. I will give you an example. In today’s political climate it is very easy to slowly and steadily gather bits of information that will eventually position you in a high tower and divide you from others. What would God want us to do? He would want us to trust Him, pray for our leaders, avoid private and public attacks, and act as aliens, sojourners, and pilgrims in the land; trusting and living for the next world.
Our mind is incredible. The battle lies in our thinking. What are you doing to transform the way you think? Transformation comes from replacing lies with the truth. Is God’s Word the source of your truth? Or is it Facebook, social media, CNN, MSNBC, Fox? The list goes on and on. It all affects the way you think.
To love God with all of your heart, soul and mind is something you need to practice
today, tomorrow, and everyday for the rest of your life.
