“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30
March 14, 2023
Unrivaled love for God. That’s what He wants: With a determined will, taking pleasure in Him to the full extent of our life, with the full exertion of our thought life, and with every ounce of our physical strength. This is not merely aspiration. It is perspiration. Loving God calls us to harness our energy to discipline our life for godliness. This means all our bodily powers: Our brain, our eyes, ears, hands, feet, time and energy. Do I expend my physical resources to please God? I can choose to get up early enough to read my Bible and pray. I can discipline my brain to memorize Scripture. I can develop my natural and spiritual gifts to help others to grow in the faith. I can arrange my schedule and weekend responsibilities to worship with God’s people. I can be generous with my income to give to God’s work and help those in need. I will burn my calories to keep God’s commandments. By God’s grace He supplies the stamina we need to do the next thing to honor Him.
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“Lord, give me the strength to love you with what energy I have left when I face the gathering storm of old age. Take my health as it has been given me now so that others will see your presence in my life.”