And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
—Deuteronomy 6:5
God taught Abraham what it was to believe in Him with all his heart; therefore, he “was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4:20). Moses taught Israel what the first and great commandment was: to love God with their whole hearts. This was the first commandment, the fountain out of which the others naturally proceed. It has its foundation in the relationship between God and man—God as the loving Creator, and man made in His image. It could never be otherwise.
Man finds his destiny and happiness in one thing: loving God with all his heart and strength. Moses said, “The Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them” (Deuteronomy 10:15). Our entire lives are to be inspired by one thought: we are to love God with all our hearts and all our strength. The first duty of the child of God is to live out this command.
How seldom Israel was able to obey the command! But before Moses died, he was able to make known the promise: “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart…to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 30:6), and He will do it “with the circumcision made without hands” (Colossians 2:11), by the circumcision of Christ on the cross.
This blessed promise was the first indication of the new covenant. Jeremiah foretold of the law being written in their hearts by the Holy Spirit so that they would no longer depart from God but would walk in His ways. (See Jeremiah 31:33.) But how little have Christians understood this; how easily they rest content with the thought that it is impossible!
Learn the double lesson. A perfect heart, loving God with all your might, is what God claims, is what God is infinitely worthy of, is what God will Himself give and work in you. Let your whole soul go out in faith to meet, to wait for, and to expect the fulfillment of the promise, that to love God with the whole heart is what God Himself will work in you.
“The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5). That makes the grace of loving God with all our hearts most sure and blessed.