You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. - Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV)
Dear Children,
The first thing I want to exhort you to do is to love God. This is the greatest commandment. Specifically, we are commanded to love Yahweh with all our heart, soul, and strength. This is the first thing, the most important thing.
You see, you need to be told this because you do not automatically do this. If it were automatic like breathing is, then I would feel no need to tell you to do it. Breathing is essential to life. You cannot live without breathing. But breathing is also automatic, so you do not need to be reminded or taught how to do it. You were born breathing, but you were not born loving God.
You are also born loving. You know how to love. You might think that love is about hugs and kisses, but it is much more than that. When God tells us that we must love Him with all that we are, He is telling us that we must give ourselves to Him. We must live for Him.
You know how your mother and I love each other? You can think about what that means. We live together. We spend time together. We make decisions together. We work together. We rest together.
Love for God is a bit like that. Loving God with all that we are means living with God and living for God.
The Bible tells us in Romans 5:8 that God shows us His love in Christ dying for us even though we were sinners. The highlight seems to be the fact that God gave up something for us, especially when we did not deserve it. God’s love for us cost Him something.
Your love for God will cost you something, too. By telling you to love God, I am really telling you to give your whole life to Him. The idea is not that you would go to a cross like Jesus did, but it is that you would follow Him.
You see, what we love is what we give ourselves to and for. What could you possibly give yourself to that would be better than God? What could you possibly give yourself for that is better than God? There is nothing that compares to the love of God.
There will be many things that call for you to love them. It may be another person that demands your whole self. It may be a job that you want, or a sport, or a kind of achievement. People live their lives all around the world for things that do not satisfy. They love the wrong things because those wrong things are not God.
Kids, there are many things you can love. There are many things to which you could give yourself. And there are plenty of things that you can love. Your love is not limited to just one thing. But we do have a controlling love, something we love above everyone and everything else.
Think of it this way: if you had to choose to lose one love and save another, is there anything that you would value above God? That is the question. Is there anything that is worth your mind more than God? Is there anything worth your soul more than God? Is there anything worth your strength more than God? What could there possibly be?
You see, this applies to me, too. It may or may not surprise you for me to tell you that I believe I have to love God with all that I am. This means that I love God before and above your mom, your siblings, and yes, even you too.
Why do things have to be this way? It is because the love of God is the only love that can properly balance out all other loves. My relationship to God is more basic, more fundamental, than any other relationship, even to my parents, my wife, and my kids. God is my creator. He is your Creator, too. I was a thought in God’s mind before I was ever anything else. God knew me, and He knows you, before and better than anyone else.
So, why should you love God? You should love Him because no other reaction to Him makes sense. All love is from God and for God. This is true of everything (that all things are from Him and for Him), but it’s worth repeating.
Kids, it is natural and normal to love. You know that I love you. Your mother loves you. Many others love you. But what you might not understand is that love is not about how you feel about something. Love is more fundamentally about what (or whom) you choose.
You know that I am not always pleased with how you act. There are times when you do things that are wrong. There are traits and qualities to you that are not lovely. But I love you anyway.
If love were a matter of following my heart, I might not love you. I might love you for a bit. I might love you for a few years. I might even love you for my whole life. But if my love depends on how I feel about you, then my love will be as unpredictable and unstable as my feelings. Kids, this is no way to live
Love is fundamentally a choice to give of myself for another person. It is based, not on feelings, but on a choice. I did not choose who you would be. I did not choose how you would look or what strengths and weaknesses you would have. I did not choose how I would feel about you when I first saw you. But from the moment I knew you existed, I chose to love you forever.
Kids, your love for God will be like that. Will you love Him?