Message from Chuck Allen on August 15, 2022
In this episode of the weekday podcast, Pastor Chuck Allen dives into Deuteronomy 6:4-9, focusing on the call to love God with all your heart, soul, and strength. He reminds us that this isn't just a command for Israel, but for every follower of Jesus—our love for God should be complete and unreserved. Pastor Chuck shares some lighthearted stories to emphasize how our actions reflect our devotion to God. Ultimately, he encourages us to love God fully, with all that we are, and to be in awe of Him each day.
Thanks for joining me on today's weekday podcast, where today I want us to talk about something that Bobby and I taught on yesterday, and that is Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4-9.
Let me read it to you in the message. "Attention, Israel..." and there's an exclamation point. It's like, don't miss this. This is a big deal. "God, our God, God, the one and only!" Then he says, "love God, your God, with your whole heart. Love him with all that's in you. Love him with all you've got." This exhortation to love God is found 10 times in Deuteronomy, and nowhere else do you see it this highlighted. I mean, it's basic, it's essential, it's a creed of Judaism, but it is and should be birthed within the heart of every follower of Jesus. It is used to open every Jewish service, and it is an element that we should never forget.
It is the first and greatest commandment, according to Jesus in Matthew 22. "This love of God involves the entire person, our heart, our soul, our strength. Our heart regarded as the seat of the mind and the will, it controls the emotions." You know, the Hebrew word for the word soul is a lot more difficult to define, but it seems to refer to the source of life and vitality, or even to one's own being. The two terms, heart and soul, indicate that we're to love God with unreserved devotion. We're to also to love with all of our might or all of our strength. The people of Israel are to exhibit a love which dominates their emotions, it directs how they think, and it is a dynamic that should direct their actions. And this degree of love will be evident to God and others.
I read in a commentary this story, it said, "the sign said, honk if you love Jesus, so I honked and a policeman arrested me for disturbing the peace in a quiet hospital zone. The sign said, smile if you love Jesus, so I smiled all day and people asked me if I was high. The sign said, wave if you love Jesus, so I waved with both hands, lost control of my car and crashed in the back of a bus. Oh God, if I cannot honk or smile or wave, how will Jesus know that I love him?"
Deuteronomy 6, verse 5 gives us the answer. It says, "love God, your God, with all your heart, love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got, mind, soul, strength." This is how we are to love him. A person has to experience the love that this commandment requires before we can teach it to other people. Think about that.
There's an old saying, "be careful what you set your heart on for it might come true." History surely proves this. Thomas Edison fell in love with invention. Henry Ford fell in love with motor cars. Kettering fell in love with research and the Wright brothers fell in love with airplanes. Their hearts control their time, their energy, their direction and their output. And look at the results. Love, my friend, is the most powerful force in the world. Want power, the heart, is the strongest impetus for the will, power, the head.
My friend, when the Lord gives us directions to love him with all of our heart, with all of our mind and with all of our soul, what he's saying is, I want all of you and I want you to be fearfully loving of me. In other words, I want you to be in awe of me and give me all your love.
God bless you, friend, love Him with all your heart today. And thanks for joining me on today's weekday podcast.
