And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect).
I once heard a great woman of God say, “Love God and then do what you please.” My initial thought was that if we all did what we pleased, we would do a lot of bad things. But if we truly love God, that would not be the case. Jesus said, If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands (John 14:15 AMPC). Out of our love for God, we want to please Him. We’ve become sons and daughters, not slaves.
A slave follows all the rules in order not to get into trouble, but sons and daughters learn the Father’s heart and delight in pleasing Him. When we find an area of disobedience in our lives, or we feel that we cannot resist temptation to sin, instead of fighting the sin, we have a better option: We can draw closer to God, falling more deeply and intimately in love with Him, recognizing His amazing goodness. Then the sin will not be tempting or attractive. As we draw close to God, we are resisting sin and it finds no place to make its nest in our lives.
Prayer of the Day: Father, I want to please You at all times. Draw me to You and teach me to know You better and to love You more, amen.
