With ALL Your Strength!

Mark 12:30 – Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (emphasis mine)

Is life simple or complicated? I will admit it is a trick question. If you answer simple, you run the risk of coming across as an uncompassionate fool who discounts the pain of the widow, the divorced single mom, or the man standing on the street corner who used to own a million dollar business. But if you answer that life is complicated, you might appear as one with little faith in God’s ability to overcome any obstacle you face. So, is life simple or complicated?

When Jesus lived among us He was asked a very important question by the top religious leaders of his day, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” At that time there were literally hundreds of laws in the Old Testament of the Bible. Over time the religious leaders believed that observing the law was the highest goal of God’s chosen people. But there was a problem with this expectation: no one measured up. This, however, did not stop those in religious power to continue to impose the strictest expectations of perfect law-keeping. The result? Very complicated lives, filled with the heaviness of shame, fear, and despair.

So, when Jesus stepped on the scene of human history and began speaking with authority about things of God (but which sounded contrary to what the religious leaders were demanding), people had questions. The religious leaders asking the questions were obviously trying to trick Jesus. However, I do believe that on this particular question they were also speaking for the people. What is the greatest commandment? Out of all the hundreds of commands, which one is at the top? Which one is the primary one, the one that we can turn to in our complicated lives?

Jesus answered immediately and confidently, “Love the Lord your God…” The greatest ‘command’ was to love God. This is amazing, because love really can’t be demanded. Love is something you give, freely, and intentionally, often with great emotion. But Jesus wasn’t appealing merely to an emotional expression or “feeling” of love. He was specific in how we are to express our love for God. Heart, soul, mind, and strength are engaged in this love for God. I want to focus specifically on the phrase “with all your strength” for the remainder of this article.

How do you love God with all your strength? First, what is your strength? Strength, in the context of Jesus’ answer, has to do with your body, your physical self. Heart, mind, and soul cover the rest of your being, but strength is talking about your body; arms, legs, mouth, hands. You and I are to love God with our entire body. Our expression of love toward God must include physical expression in order to fulfill the greatest commandment.

I think too often we reduce our Christianity, our love for God, to something that is only mental, or “spiritual.” We find it hard to invite our physical being into the realm of worship, thinking that to do so somehow reduces us as spiritual people. Yet, God specifically made us with bodies. He didn’t create us as minds only, or hearts only, or souls only. He wrapped all those unseen elements in the container of a body, and it would only make sense that when God expects us to worship Him with all we are that this includes our physical body.

How, then, do you love God with ALL your strength? I believe it boils down to sacrifice and surrender. Let me explain.

The Apostle Paul exhorts us, “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Rom. 12:1; emphasis mine) As a response to the mercy of God (his withholding of judgment on us because of our faith in Jesus’ atoning payment) we are to sacrifice our very bodies to Him. Does this mean we cut ourselves or physically injure ourselves as a gesture of such sacrifice? No! The only broken body and spilled blood acceptable to God was offered by Jesus. Our physical sacrifice is not for the covering of sin, but rather serves as a doorway for pure, undefiled worship of God. Our bodies must be engaged, in some sacrificial way, in the worship of God.

A good indicator of this kind of physical sacrifice in worship is to monitor your response to the Holy Spirit’s leading. Our flesh (i.e. human nature) likes to get in the way of worship. For instance, let’s say the Holy Spirit prompts you to lift your hands in church as an expression of your love for God, but because of your human nature’s fear of embarrassment you keep your hands at your side. This is not offering your body as a living sacrifice. The opposite could also be true. Maybe the Holy Spirit is demanding you be still and silent before God, yet because of your human nature’s desire for attention you shout loudly and throw your hands in the air to be seen by others. This too is not offering your body as a living sacrifice. Sacrifice, denying your fleshly desires, is crucial to loving God with all your strength.

We also must learn the practice of surrender in order to love God with all our strength. Let me share a personal story to illustrate this point.

I spent 13 years living a life of secret sexual addiction. I was a Christian, but ensnared to the lies of lust and pornography. My addiction led to multiple extramarital affairs, and my wife eventually left me. Her leaving was the catalyst God used to return me to the truth and begin a life-changing recovery process, one that has included the restoration of my marriage, the blessing of children, and even a ministry to help other sexually addicted individuals find freedom in Jesus.

My life of addiction was not a life of surrender to Christ. I was calling all the shots without regard for God, my wife, or anyone else. My self-centered lifestyle led to emptiness, isolation, and terrible shame. I could not love God with all my strength when unwilling to surrender the use of my body to the Lord.

There is a passage in 1 Corinthians that is a powerful reminder of who owns the rights to your body as a believer in Jesus, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Cor. 6:19-20; emphasis mine) You do not have the right to use your body selfishly as a child of God. He purchased the rights to use your body for His glory, not your own. You love God with all your strength when you surrender your hands, your feet, your eyes, your mouth, your ears, your sexuality, and every other part to His perfect control. This honors God and gives onlookers tangible evidence of your love for your Creator.

Do you want to love God with all your strength? Then sacrifice your body and all its fleshly desires, and surrender its use to the One who knows how to use it to His own glory.

Jesus offered a simple, yet direct, answer to the question of ‘What is the greatest commandment?’ Love God! Uncomplicated truth for our overly complicated lives. To love God through faith in Jesus lifts the crippling burden of shame, fear, and despair that comes from religiosity. We are called to relationship, intimate fellowship with our heavenly Father. We can love God. And loving God is something worth pursuing with all your strength.

Yours for abundant life,

jonathan