Not only do you have to love God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind, you are required to love him with all your strength. Christianity is more than heartfelt dedication or soulful passion for Jesus. It is even more than thoroughly considering the Scriptures and saying “Yes” to what God revealed about himself. Being a Christian needs to be lived in every aspect of our lives. To love God with all our strength means to love God in everything that we do.
In Colossians 3:17 it says, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Christianity that is only in the heart or only in the mind may be the reason we fall for either sentimentalism or intellectualism. But being a true Christian is to practically live for the Lord. This changes our faith into a strong and powerful service to God’s Kingdom. It makes us soldiers of the cross.
A Christian lifestyle is required if we truly love the Lord. James says in his letter that faith without good deeds is a dead faith. We must be "doers of the word" he says. We can also say that faith that does not inspire Christian living is faith without love and Paul says that even if we have the faith to move mountains, if we do not have love, we are NOTHING.
We must be careful not to consent intellectually to the Christian faith while our lives, our practices, our priorities and the values according to which we live shout louder than what we say we believe. And what it may shout is that Christ is not relevant to everything in our lives. The powerlessness of many a church lies in the problem that too many whose names are on their rolls may not be far from the Kingdom of God, yet they are not in the Kingdom, of the Kingdom and for the Kingdom of God.
Hanging out with the Church does not make you a follower of Jesus. It is committing everything you are and you do to Christ and to surrender to his will in the most practical way imaginable that testifies of being truthful in your confession of being a Christian. What a tragedy it is to be so close to the Kingdom of God that you agree to what the Bible teaches, and you even sometimes wipe away a tear because you are touched emotionally by the Gospel, yet you live outside the City of God and the family of God, because you do not love the Lord with all your strength and all your choices and you are not doing what will make a difference to the glory of his Name and the extension of his Kingdom.
Jesus said – Seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness, and everything else you need will also be given to you.
What is the top priority in your life? We must surrender all that we are to all that God is, and dedicate ourselves to live for Christ. Submit to the guidance of his Spirit in a way that reflects a love for God that is genuinely devoted, full of passion, thoroughly considered, and finally, also fully lived for the Lord.
That is the ultimate love affair – an all consuming life for God.
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