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| PentecostalTheology.com
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Jesus taught us that this command of scripture is the first and greatest of all God’s commandments. Our Creator created us for love’s sake, to be loved by him and to love Him in return. John the beloved, put it simply, “We love him because he first loved us.” (1John 4:19) According to The Westminster Catechism, Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
To love God with all the heart means that our affection cannot be divided. No one can serve two masters. (Matthew 6:24) The Christian religion must be above all else a religion of the heart. Have you ever held a child that wanted his mother? It’s like trying to baptize a cat. The child’s cry sounds like the wail of a siren and they are all arms and legs pushing in ever direction and nothing will ease the child’s anxiety until he is in his mother’s arms. You can bounce him on your knee, pat his back, sing to him, try as you might to soothe him with your sweetest voice, it will do no good. His heart belongs only to his mother. He cannot find any comfort in any other. Augustine understood this, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” God help us to learn to love Him with undivided hearts.
