Love God: With All Your Soul
This week we are looking at what it means to love God with all your soul.
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” – Mark 12:30
The word soul here, in Greek, is psuche, which means breath, spirit, sentience – not the immortal soul, but more than just vitality or life
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” – Deuteronomy 6:5
The word soul here, in Hebrew, is nephesh, which means a breathing creature
When we were talking about loving God with all of our heart we were looking at the emotional side of things. We talked about how loving someone with all of your heart referred to expressing love from the core of who you are, with the very essence of your identity, that they are a part of you and transform you, that with every one of your emotions you express love for them, or you love them through every one of your emotions.
When we talk about loving God with all of our soul, it is similar in nature, and yet, there is something distinct about it.
I want to look at two aspects of loving God with all of your soul.
The first has to do with the meaning of the word “soul”, of life and intentionality. This word conveys the idea of being intentionally alive, of living. It goes back, in some ways, to what we were talking about when we talked about Jesus coming so that we can have life in abundance, more than just mere vitality, but of really living. When we love God with all of our soul, it is an intentional act and a complete act.
When God created people, when He created the first people, and when He created you and I, He gave us free will, meaning that we get to pick and choose our actions and thoughts and beliefs and loves. It’s something that we take for granted, and assume is the best way to be, but is it? In many ways, the entire world would actually likely be a much better place if people didn’t have free will, if we just simply did whatever we were told or programmed to do, if we were, in effect, zombies. We would all just treat people kindly and live in harmony and love God and love people … except that we wouldn’t.
Love can’t be forced. It has to be chosen. A community that cares for each other and treats each other with mutual respect and kindness is something beautiful, but there’s nothing beautiful about a bunch of robots existing in harmony or a video game utopia filled with avatars. If there is no free will, no active choice, there can be no love and no beauty in it. It’s not amazing. It’s boring. What makes love and peace and kindness so incredible is that it is chosen and worked at.
When we love God with all of our soul, it is making a choice to commit our life to Him, to give Him our essence. It is not just succumbing to someone else’s choice for our life, but it is saying, “God, I will choose, in my living, in my breathing, in my experiencing life, to love you in it and through it. I have a million options for what I do in this life and how I navigate it, but I am going to intentionally choose you.”
This is a commandment, but, as we’ve talked about, it’s a commandment that we have the choice to follow or not, and in fact, it cannot be followed if forced. It must be of our own volition.
“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” – Luke 9:23
Salvation is a single occurrence, but following Christ is a choice that we make every day of our lives as we love God with all our soul.
Secondly, I want to look at this from the perspective of the term “soulmate”.
Have you ever heard the term “soulmate”? What do you think that means? Who does it apply to? How do you know if someone is your soulmate, or that you are theirs? Often, like with the phrase “I love you with all my heart” we tend to think of “soulmate” in a romantic sense. A soulmate is the person that you are meant to be with forever. They are “the one” and you just know it. However, a soulmate doesn’t have to be someone that you are in a romantic relationship with. In its simplest form, a soulmate is merely a person that you are perfectly connected with. This could be in a romantic sense or in a friendship or even in an intellectual, mentor/pupil sense. It may be all of these. Soulmates are drawn to each other, made for each other and they reflect and compliment each other in character, interest, knowledge, etc…
We are soulmates with God. I know that may sound strange on the surface, but if we think about it, it makes sense. We were made by God and made with intentionality and purpose. He says in Genesis 1:26a “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. …” and then in Genesis 2:7 “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” We were made by God and for God. We bear His image, and He literally put His breath, His spirit, His soul, in us.
We also see in John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” and in John 12:32 “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” and finally, in James 4:8a “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. …”
There is a recurring theme throughout the Bible that God is calling us, drawing us to Himself. We may not necessarily know what that draw is, initially, but we are told that there is something written on our hearts and minds that we are searching for God, for relationship with Him. We are meant to be with Him, and He draws us to Himself.
We are soulmates with God.
The final verse I want to look at is 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
This verse is one that I’ve heard a million times, but this year I’ve been looking at it in a new light, and it’s crazy. God became sin so that sinners could become righteousness. It’s mind blowing.
We were made in His image. He draws us to Himself. He became like us, so that we can be like Him.
To love God with all of our soul is to make an intentional choice to join with Him, to love Him in our living, to accept His invitation.
Love God with all your soul.
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” – Mark 12:30
The word soul here, in Greek, is psuche, which means breath, spirit, sentience – not the immortal soul, but more than just vitality or life
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” – Deuteronomy 6:5
The word soul here, in Hebrew, is nephesh, which means a breathing creature
When we were talking about loving God with all of our heart we were looking at the emotional side of things. We talked about how loving someone with all of your heart referred to expressing love from the core of who you are, with the very essence of your identity, that they are a part of you and transform you, that with every one of your emotions you express love for them, or you love them through every one of your emotions.
When we talk about loving God with all of our soul, it is similar in nature, and yet, there is something distinct about it.
I want to look at two aspects of loving God with all of your soul.
The first has to do with the meaning of the word “soul”, of life and intentionality. This word conveys the idea of being intentionally alive, of living. It goes back, in some ways, to what we were talking about when we talked about Jesus coming so that we can have life in abundance, more than just mere vitality, but of really living. When we love God with all of our soul, it is an intentional act and a complete act.
When God created people, when He created the first people, and when He created you and I, He gave us free will, meaning that we get to pick and choose our actions and thoughts and beliefs and loves. It’s something that we take for granted, and assume is the best way to be, but is it? In many ways, the entire world would actually likely be a much better place if people didn’t have free will, if we just simply did whatever we were told or programmed to do, if we were, in effect, zombies. We would all just treat people kindly and live in harmony and love God and love people … except that we wouldn’t.
Love can’t be forced. It has to be chosen. A community that cares for each other and treats each other with mutual respect and kindness is something beautiful, but there’s nothing beautiful about a bunch of robots existing in harmony or a video game utopia filled with avatars. If there is no free will, no active choice, there can be no love and no beauty in it. It’s not amazing. It’s boring. What makes love and peace and kindness so incredible is that it is chosen and worked at.
When we love God with all of our soul, it is making a choice to commit our life to Him, to give Him our essence. It is not just succumbing to someone else’s choice for our life, but it is saying, “God, I will choose, in my living, in my breathing, in my experiencing life, to love you in it and through it. I have a million options for what I do in this life and how I navigate it, but I am going to intentionally choose you.”
This is a commandment, but, as we’ve talked about, it’s a commandment that we have the choice to follow or not, and in fact, it cannot be followed if forced. It must be of our own volition.
“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” – Luke 9:23
Salvation is a single occurrence, but following Christ is a choice that we make every day of our lives as we love God with all our soul.
Secondly, I want to look at this from the perspective of the term “soulmate”.
Have you ever heard the term “soulmate”? What do you think that means? Who does it apply to? How do you know if someone is your soulmate, or that you are theirs? Often, like with the phrase “I love you with all my heart” we tend to think of “soulmate” in a romantic sense. A soulmate is the person that you are meant to be with forever. They are “the one” and you just know it. However, a soulmate doesn’t have to be someone that you are in a romantic relationship with. In its simplest form, a soulmate is merely a person that you are perfectly connected with. This could be in a romantic sense or in a friendship or even in an intellectual, mentor/pupil sense. It may be all of these. Soulmates are drawn to each other, made for each other and they reflect and compliment each other in character, interest, knowledge, etc…
We are soulmates with God. I know that may sound strange on the surface, but if we think about it, it makes sense. We were made by God and made with intentionality and purpose. He says in Genesis 1:26a “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. …” and then in Genesis 2:7 “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” We were made by God and for God. We bear His image, and He literally put His breath, His spirit, His soul, in us.
We also see in John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” and in John 12:32 “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” and finally, in James 4:8a “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. …”
There is a recurring theme throughout the Bible that God is calling us, drawing us to Himself. We may not necessarily know what that draw is, initially, but we are told that there is something written on our hearts and minds that we are searching for God, for relationship with Him. We are meant to be with Him, and He draws us to Himself.
We are soulmates with God.
The final verse I want to look at is 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
This verse is one that I’ve heard a million times, but this year I’ve been looking at it in a new light, and it’s crazy. God became sin so that sinners could become righteousness. It’s mind blowing.
We were made in His image. He draws us to Himself. He became like us, so that we can be like Him.
To love God with all of our soul is to make an intentional choice to join with Him, to love Him in our living, to accept His invitation.
Love God with all your soul.
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