Scripture: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength."—MARK xii. 30.
In this great command the Lord our God has tried to teach us how greatly He needs us wholly for Himself. Our love, our prayers, our consecration, our trust, our obedience—in all these there must be an unreserved surrender to God's will and service.
"With all thy heart"—with its longings, with its affections, with its attachments, with all its desires. "With all thy soul"—with its vital powers, and the will as a royal master in the soul. "With all thy mind"—its faculties of thought, of knowledge, of reasoning, and its powers of memory and imagination. "With all thy strength"—this is nothing less than the sacri¬fice of everything, and the putting forth of our utmost endeavors. All for God, for God alone, and our one desire must be to love and serve Him perfectly.
What a wonderful God it is who has such a right to expect so much from us! Is He not the Creator, who has made us to show forth His glory, and for this purpose must possess us wholly? Is He not the Perfect and Glorious One, who is worthy that we should forsake all to follow Him? Is He not the Everlasting Love, and Goodness and Mercy, ever desirous of pouring out blessings upon us ? Is He not indeed worthy, ten thousand times worthy, that all that is within us shall love and honor Him with all our strength, and all our heart?
Think what it would mean in your prayer-life if you were strengthened with all might to call upon God each day! Take this commandment into your heart, and make it the rule of your life, and try to realize that God must have all. It will make a great difference in your life, and you will go from strength to strength until you appear before God in Zion.
God will assuredly work in our hearts that which He has promised in this command. We are unable to keep it in our own strength. The Almighty One will, through His Spirit, pour out His love in our hearts. Let us earnestly desire an answer to our prayers, and approach with boldness the Throne of Grace where this grace may be received.
