With All You’ve Got

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The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all you’ve got. This of course can only be obeyed in the context of the grace of God found in the gospel. The way we commend ourselves to God is in Jesus’ name, because He is the only one who perfectly loved God with His all.

But within that context of a gracious justification, the Spirit of the Lord trains us, growing us up through the process of a maturing sanctification, such that we are learning how to live this out in our own experience. We learn how to do this because the Spirit who lives in us now is gradually transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ, who is the true image of God.

Part of this process means we must learn what holiness looks like. We cannot become holier without gaining some knowledge of our destination. One of the key elements of this is the recognition that holiness is integrated—it is something that necessarily spreads across body, soul, and spirit.

It is easy for us to mistakenly think spiritual things happen to your spirit, and whatever happens to your body is “just physical.” But Paul tells the Romans to present their bodies to God as spiritual worship. So love God in your treatment of your body. Love God by remembering you have a body. Your body was not given to you as a carrying case for your brain.

Love God in your emotional life. Love God by following the promptings of the Spirit, and love God by learning to ignore false promptings. Love God with all your brains. Love God with your hands. Use your tongue to praise God, and to edify your neighbor. Ask the Spirit of God to find every closet in your soul, and fill them up with His stores and with His provisions. In asking for this, know that you are praying in His will. What you are asking for is a delight to Him, and He will grant it.

 

 

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