Love With All Your Heart
Of all the commandments, which is the most important? The most important one, answered Jesus, ‘is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’
Mark 12: 28-31
How do we know that we are loving the Lord with all our heart? We look to scripture to find the answer. Matthew 15:18 says, “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean’. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”
Our mouth is a reflection of our heart. If we love the Lord with our heart then the words we speak will demonstrate this love. I try to explain this concept to my girls when they are bickering at each other over a silly matter. Do the words that they say to each other exhibit love? I have to remind them that the words reflect their relationship with God. Scripture tells us that David is aware of this very thing when he says, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer (Psalm 19:14).
Being aware of what comes out of our mouth is one way we can show God we love Him. Let’s be more aware of how we use this powerful tool and use it to draw us closer to those we love and to the Lord our God.
Dear Lord Almighty, I pray the words I use and the thoughts I think will be pleasing to You. Help me to love You with all my heart.
Charity O
