LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR MIND – Matthew 22:37
Monday, February 26th, 2007Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
A lawyer asked Jesus which of the commandments was the greatest and Jesus replied that you should love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. This verse summarizes the first four of the Ten Commandments by simply stating the principle behind the commands. In order to demonstrate your love for God you must have no other gods. You must not make any graven images. You must not take the Lord’s name in vain. You must honor the Lord’s day and keep it holy.
Jesus commanded that your love for the Lord should fill your heart, your soul and your mind. This means that the love of God must completely fill your life. You cannot simply obey God with your actions and expect God to be pleased with you. Instead, not only must you obey, you must have a joyful heart while you seek to please the Lord.
When Jesus said that you are to love the Lord with all your mind, HE was not just referring to your attitude. Jesus understood that you had to fill your mind with the things of God. HE understood that you needed to change your thinking. At this time, the religious rulers claimed to be obeying the Ten Commandments but in their minds they where putting their own power before God. The religious rulers were setting up in their mind their own laws and rules as more important than their relationship with God and as such they did not love the Lord with all their minds.
It takes virtue in order to love the Lord with all your mind. Virtue requires that you fill your life with the things of God. As you fill your mind with the things that God desires you to think about, then you will be able to truly place God first in your mind. As long as you allow your own wisdom and your own understanding to fill your mind, it will be almost impossible for you to love the Lord with all your mind.
You may not think that you have ever made a graven image and bowed yourself before it but how many times have you in your mind placed something in your life as more important than God? It does not take much to create an idol in your mind. All you have to do is allow something to be more important to you than your relationship with God. When your mind is more concerned about head knowledge, entertainment or other relationships, the question needs to be asked what is the most important thing to you.
God is to be number one in your mind. This means that as you go to bed, your mind should be filled with prayer as you talk to HIM about the good things that HE has done for you and the things HE desires you to do. When you go to sleep rather than worry about what tomorrow will bring, you need to ensure that your thoughts are filled with those things that are pleasing to God.
In order to completely love the Lord, Jesus commanded that you not only love HIM on an emotional level but that you also love HIM on a mental level. You must take the time to learn who God really is. As you take the time to understand God, you must learn to fall in love with your Creator. You must learn to allow the God who made you to have priority in your mind. By adding virtue to your life you can love God with all your mind.