Boundaries Are Blessings by Healthy by DesignSample

Loving God

When a Pharisee lawyer asked Jesus which was the Greatest Commandment in the Law, Jesus said to him, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and strength." I can imagine the Pharisee thinking, "You mean to tell me that loving God trumps all the other commandments like stealing, adultery, and even murder? Seriously?!" Perhaps, you've thought the same thing yourself? But Jesus' answer was so simple. Possibly because He knew that anything more complicated would keep us over-complicating, justifying, and rationalizing our Christian walk. He kept it simple so there would be no misunderstanding and no need to create a bunch of rules that we could never adhere to.

Truly embracing and living out this Great Commandment is foundational to setting boundaries because it takes God's anointing to help us set boundaries that we can adhere to. If we don't yield and open our hearts to God, we will not adhere to our boundaries even though God knows that we need to.

Our vision is so minimal, and that's why our boundaries are so limited. God wants all of us, not just a behavior change. We want God to change our circumstances, but God wants to change our hearts first. He wants to change the root of our problem and not just deal with our problems' fruits. We want boundaries that make us stop doing what we don't want to do, and He wants boundaries that bring blessings.

So how do you love the Lord with all your heart?

A few days ago, you performed a heart check by asking yourself if you loved God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Today, you'll discover just what that looks like.

Loving God with All Your Heart

It's with our hearts that we "feel" and experience the Love of God. God created us with a heart so that we would love Him wholly and absolutely. He wants our hearts to be turned to Him first. Unfortunately, many other things compete with our hearts for first place—these are all idols.

God commanded us to Love Him wholeheartedly, but He never intended us to work up to this Love for Him out of our own effort. In our own flesh, we are not capable of such Love. Our assignment is to allow Him to come in and fill us with His Love. We Love Him by inviting Him into our hearts consistently (Acts 16:16).

Loving God with All Your Soul

In a previous lesson, we learned that the soul is made up of our conscious and subconscious mind, which houses our thoughts, feelings, conscience, will, and emotions (Proverbs 2:10, 139:14; Lamentations 3:20; Psalm 13:2; 1 Chronicles 22:19; Psalm 42:1).

Our soul gives us our personality. This is where the battle rages. It’s where we experience the anxiety, doubts, and fears which, in turn, manifest in our bodies as excess weight and illness.

To Love God with all your soul means to entrust all of your fears, doubts, and anxieties to Him. It's when you can be still in the midst of any storm and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10).

Loving God with All Your Mind

Loving God with all your mind means to let go of your logical, rational, egoistic brain—the "I need to understand" brain that needs to figure everything out—and continually renew your mind. This happens when you read God's Word each day. It does not mean leaving your common sense at the door; in fact, it's the opposite. It's Wisdom that comes from God that will allow you to think supernatural thoughts that you could never have thought on your own.

Scripture tells us: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5-6 ) and "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will" (Romans 12:2 ).

Loving God with All Your Strength

To Love God with all our strength means to put our words into action. It means to consistently work out our Salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). It means to be doers of the Word and not just hearers (James 1:22). Strength is the physical, tangible actions that we take to show God that we Love Him. In John 14:15, He tells the disciples that they will obey His commandments if they Love Him.

Loving God with all our strength means doing things that are not always convenient. It’s speaking up when we might be in the minority. It’s caring for others; it's sacrifice; it's trusting in God's Strength when we feel weak; it's putting our faith in action instead of just words.

The Spurgeon Study Bible summarizes it this way, "with all your heart" means intensely; "with all your soul" means sincerely, most lovingly; and "with all your strength" means with all your energy, with every faculty, with every possibility of your nature.

Reflect

1. Think of everything that you've been doing to try to get healthy and lose weight. How will Loving God with all your heart make the journey so much clearer and simpler?

2. As you review the Scripture, journal how the Holy Spirit is calling you to Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Worship and Prayer

"Dear Lord, I come to You today asking You to create in me a pure heart and renew a right spirit in me. Although I know You, I have never fully submitted to You. I've been living with a Christian shell, but I'm so tired of this facade, Lord. I truly want all that You have for me. I want all of You. I've been struggling in so many areas for so long, and I know that at the root of it is that I have not fully given You my heart. So, I give You my heart today, Lord. I know it all starts here. When I give You my heart, I will no longer have to worry about sticking to my boundaries. My focus will be on being led by Your Spirit. In Your Name, I pray. Amen."