Dear BPWAians, Today we will remind ourselves of what it means to fulfil the first of all the commandments with respect to loving the LORD our God with all our minds and with all our strength.

With all thy mind. The mind of the believer is a critical part in the Christian walk, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom 12:2). It transforms you. And it needs to be renewed, ie we need to think differently with our minds. The mind holds knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of God, which is why the Apostle Paul prays without ceasing that, “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Col 1:9). Moreover, the mind must be controlled by the Word of God, not the world’s thinking. To love God, you must control your thought life. The mind is a faculty of understanding, and ultimately your mind forms who you are, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he . . .” (Prov 23:7). Your mind can make you a person who loves God or who loves the world and self. What you allow yourself to think much of eventually affects your feelings and desires and eventually your choices and actions. So, God commands us to love Him with all our minds, ie let our minds be constantly and totally engaged in loving Him. The mind speaks of the will as well. The command calls for us to exercise conscious control and discipline in what we allow into our minds. We need to redirect our thoughts when they draw our hearts from God and His ways. Do you pass your time in amusements rather than musing on God?

If you control your thought life, you can begin to control what you love. How can I control the mind? How can I keep my mind upon my beloved God and Saviour? David, the man after God’s own heart, meditated constantly upon God’s Word, “Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word” (Ps 119:148). Paul told Timothy, “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all” (1Tim 4:15). The motive of knowing God’s Word is not to find solutions to your life’s problems but always to know God more! Your love for someone only increases with knowing and understanding the person. It takes effort to meditate on God’s Word to get an in-depth understanding of God. We need to set apart time each day for it, even staying up at night and getting up early like David. And we do it because it is our delight to be with God in His Word! And we meditate so that we will trust, obey, and live for His glory because we love Him. This is how we love God with all our minds.

With all thy strength. Strength speaks of intensity, might, speed, and ability. We must use all our strength to love God. It may cost you sleep and energy. The duties of life may drain you and may tempt you to slacken in your pursuit of God. It takes strength to pay attention when studying His Word to know Him. It takes energy to serve Him. Loving God takes conscious determination. It does not happen naturally. When you are tired, and the body wants to sleep more, enjoy the pleasures of life, and to skip our quiet time, prayer time, and church time, this command calls for you to muster all your strength to still pursue God. If you don’t, you will slowly but surely wane in your love for Him. Just like in any human relationship, it takes effort and sacrifice to maintain the closeness. “All thy strength” speaks of all kinds of strength in you, for example, mental strength, emotional strength, will power, abilities, and courage. It means that we must apply all these areas of strength in all the other aspects that need to be involved in loving God – your heart, soul, and mind. We must use all our strength to prevent our sinful emotions from overwhelming us instead of obeying and loving God with all our heart and mind. Will you use your talents and abilities for God or for yourself? Every ounce of energy that God gives us is for loving Him. Every ability that God uses even the world to build in us is for us to use for Him. This is how we love God with our strength of abilities. Are you more ready to serve your school or company than when approached than to do something for God in church? All your strength also includes emotional strength and courage. Do you give in easily to those emotions that can cause you to be easily upset, angry, or depressed and hence draw back from obeying Him? Do you give in to fear of offending family or friends when you learnt you need to obey God in something but in doing so you will change what you usually do with them? Ultimately, loving God with all your strength calls for you to speedily gather all your powers by His grace to make the changes needed to live a life that engages heart, soul, and mind to love God with intensity.

How can you ensure that you will not wane in your love to God? In giving the great shama(hear) to Israel in Deuteronomy 6:6-12, God told His people that if they do not teach their children His Word daily, and to keep their conversations about Him throughout the day from the moment they wake up till the time that they go to sleep, and to keep His Word constantly before them, they will easily forget Him. The point is to be constantly conscious of His Person and the reality that He is with us. How conscious are you moment by moment of the day that you are with God? Do you stop thinking of Him after praying when you get up, or after you give thanks for your food, or after you pray for journey mercies? Are you conscious that God is ever- present even when you are with family and friends? Do you look forward to being with God like you look forward to being with a loved one or best friend? If God is hardly in your thoughts and conversations, you will soon relegate Him to a background thought instead of Him being a real Person you are seeking to love. Your study of the Word becomes a theoretical exercise. But if you do everything throughout the day linking it to your aim to love God regardless of the situation and time of day, you will increase in your love towards the LORD your God. For example, in everything that you do, buy, spend time on, or choose, ask yourself “will this increase my love for God, or will it dampen my love for Him?” May the prayer meeting series not simply be an accumulation of the facts, but may God use it to transform our love for Him.

Mr 12:29-30 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Yours in our Lord’s service,

Pastor