MARK 12:30
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
From my book...
Jesus said that the greatest commandment is, “ ‘And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30). Now that Jesus lives in us, we love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds, and with all our strength.
We love God more than we love the world and more than we love the things in the world—just as Scripture requires (1 John 2:15). We love God more than we love our houses and more than we love our property—just as Scripture requires (Mark 10:29–31). And though our love for the people around us is greater because the love of God is in us, we love God more than we love our parents, more than we love our spouses, more than we love our children, more than we love our siblings, and more than we love our own lives—just as Scripture requires (Matt. 10:37; Luke 14:26).
Some people think that God’s commandments are written to show us how to live our lives, but they are not. They are written to make clear the difference between right and wrong, so that each of us might come to know that we are sinners, that we are guilty before God, and that we need His forgiveness (Rom. 3:19–20). And they say something about us who are saved. They tell us what God put inside us when He came to live in our hearts.
When God came to live in our hearts, He brought all His laws with Him. And when He made His home within us, He wrote those laws indelibly upon our hearts. As a result, the commandment to love Him with all our hearts is not a burdensome commandment that is too hard to bear. It is a natural thing for us to do, and we do it without even thinking.
Jesus said it Himself: “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God” (John 8:42). Loving God in a way that fulfills the greatest commandment is not something we do by being obedient to the Scriptures. Nor is it by disciplining ourselves to do all that God requires.
The kind of love we have for God (the kind that satisfies the requirements of the greatest commandment) cannot be manufactured by man or by human effort. The love we have for God is in us for no other reason except we have been born of God (John 8:42). Our love for God helps define who we are in Christ. Our love for God is built into our spiritual DNA, and it will never change.