Matthew 22:37-39
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

It’s all about our relationship to God, and we must be willing to give Him all of us, all that makes us who we are.  It’s not about doing a bunch of things so we can feel good about ourselves or look good to other people.  It’s not about getting everything right every time.  It’s not about skating by with a life of comfort and ease.  It is about dedication to God as our supreme authority, Jehovah, our Father in heaven.  It’s about loving Him and serving Him and then obeying Him.  It’s not about following rules and completing tasks so we can count ourselves righteous, but it is about being made righteous by Him.

It’s about allowing the love of God into our hearts and lives to mold us and make us.  It is about experiencing that change that love can bring and then being a channel for that love to flow out from us into the world around us.  It’s about becoming more like Him in His kind and gracious character and treating people the way that He treats us.  It’s about setting self aside like Jesus did.  It’s about an outward focus on others.  It’s about being used for His honor and glory.  It’s about introducing others to Jesus by that love.

And isn’t it true that when we are loving God like we should and loving others like He commands us to that we find ourselves in a place of contentment, that we ourselves are blessed?  Because that’s how God intended our lives to be—in right fellowship with Him and those around us.  But what gets us to that place if we aren’t there just now?  One of the main things is surrender.  Because when we’re holding anything else too tightly, we’re not holding on to God enough.  When anything else is between us, we’re not loving Him with all of us.

Let’s keep our focus on the heart of what our relationship with God is all about.  The center of it is love—His for us and ours for Him.  Let’s love Him with all our hearts, the seat of our emotions and desires.  Let’s love Him with all our souls, the deepest part, the eternal part of us that makes us most who we are.  And let us love Him with all our minds, all our thoughts, focus, and attention.  And then that will allow us to love others in a way we never could before.