When Jesus was asked in Matthew 22 what the most important command was,

He didn’t hesitate to recite Deuteronomy 6:5:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."

In Deuteronomy, God instructed the Israelites to constantly keep this command in their hearts and minds and repeat it daily.

They made physical reminders to help them remember to love God in everything they did.

They taught this command to their children as the foundation of all other commands in Scripture.

When listening to this speaker it challenged me to read it again and again:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (NIV)

That is when he pointed out the word ALL.

We are to love Jesus with ALL that we are.

It is easy in times of trouble to think I am not going to love God with all I am (because I am in pain, I am hurting).

This verse invites us to love God with ALL our heart including difficulties

It invites us to love God with ALL our soul including our biggest concerns

It invites us to love God with ALL our strength even when we feel weak

Because God knows us! Because God loves us!

And because God wants to be in a relationship with all of us.

The starting point for all our lives is wrapped up in loving God.

We were created to love God and have a relationship with Him.

We love because He first loved us!

Among everything that you do in life

The most important thing is that you love God with everything that you are.

If we become successful in life but don’t love God, we’ve missed the most important thing.

So, take some time to consider your life.

Is loving God the primary motivation?

Think about how good and merciful God has been in your life.

Remember that God loves you more than you could ever imagine.

The best motivation to love God is to constantly remember how much He loved us first.

So don’t hold back!