Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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 12:29–30 nkjv)
To love God with all your heart means to love Him with all your feelings, all your emotions, and all your passion. Now, passion is a very hot term in contemporary culture. People ask, “What’s your passion?” What they’re asking you is: what is it that really gets your juices flowing? It could be a certain ideology, social cause, or politics. Perhaps it’s theater, movies, or music. Or it could be making money, physical fitness, or watching college football. You can be passionate about a lot of things, but the number one passion of your life should be your relationship with God.
Think about your relationship with God this way: When you first came to Christ, there was no problem in feeling passionate about God. You had a hunger for the Word, longed to be in worship, and itched to tell others about Christ. You were excited about God, and there was a very real passion there! But then as time went by and life presented its many challenges and opportunities, it became easy for other things to become higher in priority. And, if we’re more passionate about anything else than our relationship with God, our priorities are simply out of whack. Jesus reminds us that when we give our hearts to God, we need to maintain that passion and love Him with all of our heart.
