Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 1 Mark 12:30
Love is an attribute of God and defies easy definition. Secular minds define love in a limited sense as “profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.” Love is a strong, positive, and sublime virtue. The Church works with the Greeks’ understanding of love found across the pages of the Bible: Philia – Brotherly Love, Eros – Romantic Love, Storge – Familial Love, and Agape – Unconditional Love.
So, what does it mean for me to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength?
I have determined that God is my only priority (heart), He is all I desire, and my feelings are towards Him (soul). My intellect, knowledge, thoughts, attention, inclinations, will, etc., are guided by His Word (mind). I resist being dissuaded and distracted from my focus on God and instead use the power, capacity, and capability given me to live for and serve God (strength).
Author: Rev. Sunday Bwanhot
Rev. Sunday Bwanhot is a missionary to America serving with SIM/ECWA. He is an Economist by profession and has worked as a Statistician with Kaduna State Government. He later pioneered and managed the Challenge Press of ECWA in Jos before God’s call to pioneer the Prayer Ministry of ECWA in Jos, Nigeria. In 1993, God called him to Chicago as a missionary and has been serving there since 1995 to date. Currently, he pastors ECWA Chicago which he planted and serves as the Chairman of the ECWA USA District Church Council. Loves being a grandpa of 8 grandchildren and enjoys writing.
