“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV)
Do I love Jesus Christ with all my heart? Am I willing to do whatever it takes to live by faith? Do I trust that God will take care of me? Am I willing to forgive?
As Christians these are questions we should be asking ourselves from time to time as a litmus test of our spiritual journey. After all, we are imperfect people striving to be Christ-like in our faith walk. It is how we act or react that makes us stand apart.
A pastor friend of mine always starts his prayers with the following, “Lord, break my heart for those around me so that I can truly see them with eyes of your heart.” While the words may seem peculiar, they really make sense to me since life and sin have a way of hardening the best of hearts. While our eyes may look away and our minds may block something out, our hearts eventually shut the door tight blocking the flow of grace, mercy, peace and love.
Moses and Jesus both said that the most important act as a Christian is to “Love your God” with all your heart first and foremost. Without that love for God nothing else matters.
The love of Christ says that we place our complete trust with our heart first.
“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.’”
Matthew 22:37 (NRSV)
Do we take time out from our busy schedules to spend time with a loved one, blocking out all the distractions of life?
An undistracted Mary welcomed Jesus into her house in Bethany and gave him undivided attention. She anointed him with fragrant oil, adoring and enjoying each moment as if it were the last time she would see him. How could I be more like Mary cherishing each moment as a slice of heaven?
“There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:42 (NRSV)
Do we wholeheartedly love our Lord as we courageously fight battles in His name?
Our recent Grand Sweep readings in the book of Numbers introduced us to an interesting character. Caleb was courageous and had no fear of the size of the enemy he faced, unlike the other Israelites. Although not an Israelite by birth, Caleb was one of the spies who went into Canaan and came back reporting to Moses that “we should take the land.” It was often said of Caleb that “he hath fully followed the Lord.”
“But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, ‘Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.’”
Numbers 13:30 (NRSV)
Do we still love God amid catastrophic loss of a loved one?
Tony and his wife Lauren lost their 18-year-old son, Jamie, to suicide. At Jamie’s funeral service the outpouring of support comforted his family and friends beyond measure. Even in this unfathomable crisis, the family’s love for God and commitment to faith was unwavering. A family friend shared that through the faithful witness of this family she had come to realize that there had to be God. She later went on to accept Christ as her savior.
“Because of Christ’s spirit in me,” Tony told the Athletes in Action crowd, “I have the peace of mind in the midst of something that is very, very painful. That’s my prayer today. That everyone would have this same peace.”
“Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7 (NRSV)
Do we forgive as Christ forgave those who have deeply wounded us?
Corrie ten Boom’s family was punished by the Germans for harboring Jews and they were sent to concentration camps where both her father and sister, Betsie, perished. Having survived, Corrie went on to open a post-war home for holocaust survivors and traveled abroad as a missionary preaching God’s forgiveness and reconciliation for all.
Do we continue loving God non-stop for our entire life?
Caleb’s love of God spared his life and awarded him an inheritance of land at the ripe age of 85. In Joshua 14:12 we read how Caleb joyfully chose a mountain full of enemies as his reward. He was willing to do whatever it took to show his loyal love for the Lord no matter his age. Caleb climbed the mountain of faith in battle until his dying days.
“Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.Let all that you do be done in love.”
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (NRSV)
Do we look for the peace that surpasses all understanding?
Tony Dungy is a Christian man first and foremost. He is not afraid to tell you that. His calm demeanor in the face of struggles is an inspiration to others. Tony is a man molded out of the Lord’s own heart who stands unashamed of the truth.
“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Matthew 12:34 (NRSV)
The following season after the tragic death of his son, despite the pain, Tony refocused his efforts on finishing the rebuild of his team into eventual Super Bowl champions. Football was his passion but not his purpose. Tony wrote all his players a letter each season to tell them what he saw in them as men and how they could impact their family and community outside of football. He wanted them to know that life was so much more than just football.
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.”
2 Timothy 2:15 (NRSV)
Do we fully realize that forgiveness softens the hardest of hearts, even our own?
Corrie had just finished speaking at a Munich church when a man approached her. This man resembled and in fact was the same guard who had tortured both Corrie and Betsie. All of her bad memories soon flooded her mind as the man approached saying that he was the guard at the camp, but since that time he had given his life to Christ. He accepted the forgiveness of Jesus Christ for his past cruelty and sins. He could not remember Corrie, yet he still asked if she might also forgive him. “Fraulein… hands held out…will you forgive me?”
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you…”
Matthew 6:14 (NRSV)
All history froze in time. After all, her sister and father had died at this camp. Could she really live up to what God had placed as her mission to preach forgiveness and reconciliation? God tugged and stretched her heart amidst all of the lessons from Jesus about forgiving men and their trespasses. She prayed for the great healer to soften her heart and to lift her hands to meet the man’s outreached hands. Corrie knew that forgiveness was an act of will that every fiber in her body needed to be in sync with heart and spirit.
“A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Ezekiel 36:26 (NRSV)
In prayer she reached out and held his hands, at which time an incredible thing took place. It felt as if a current of power extended from her arms to his and a healing warmth overwhelmed her as tears streamed from her eyes.
“I forgive you, brother!” She cried. “With all my heart!”
How will you love Christ with all your heart? Have you asked God to soften your heart? Might it be time to ask for forgiveness? Is there someone in your life that you need to forgive?
Peace be with you,
Kenny Shortsleeve, Lay Leader
“O Lord, who has mercy upon all, take away from me my sins, and mercifully kindle in me the fire of thy Holy Spirit. Take away from me the heart of stone, and give me a heart of flesh, a heart to love and adore thee, a heart to delight in thee, to follow and enjoy thee, for Christ’s sake. Amen.”
St. Ambrose of Milan (339-397)