(Part 1 of 2)
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.”-Mark 12:30
As the holiday gift buying season gets into full swing, many families are changing their approach to Christmas by adopting what is known as The Four Gift Rule. Gift giving has become a source of stress for many families so instead of purchasing a random assortment of items for their family members they are opting to purchase four items; one from each of the following categories:
1. Something they want
2. Something they need
3. Something to wear
4. Something to read
The four gift rule, however, is not a new concept. In fact, God is the original author of the four gift rule! The greatest gift we can give God is our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love, as we learned, last week is far more than an emotion, but rather it is an expression of God’s nature. So what makes God feel loved?
It begins by loving God with all your heart! Jesus declared in Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.” The devotion of our hearts is determined by what we find value in. What occupies our time, motivates our actions, shapes our daily living? In order for the heart to love Jesus completely, it has to treasure Him above everything else:
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then, in his joy, went and sold all he had and bought that field.”-Matthew 13:44
Does Jesus hold this type of value in your life? Would you sell all you have in order to have Him? Loving Jesus means that their is nothing that we possess or participate in that is more valuable to us than our relationship with Him. The harsh reality is that anything that we prioritize over Him is an idol. For many the greatest gift they could give God this Christmas is to place Him back into His proper place of value in their own hearts and lives.
Once we have a proper perspective of Christ, we can then begin to focus on loving God with all of our soul. Our souls is our eternal inner being. It is composed of our attitudes, will, and emotions. It is the core of who we are. C.S. Lewis wrote: “You do not have a soul. You are a soul.”
Where the heart focuses on what we value, the soul focuses on doing God’s will. A person’s soul has the ability to think and the power to choose to do good or evil. How many times have you done something because it was the right thing to do, although your heart wasn’t in it?
It is a demonstration of love towards God when we lay aside our will for His will:
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”-John 14:15
This wasn’t simply something Jesus requested of us; it was something that He modeled personally on the eve of His crucifixion:
“And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours be done.”-Luke 22:41-42
Do you love God enough to say no to your own will; to live out the will of God?
Pastor Scott Burr
Dayspring Community Church
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