Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. ~ Luke 10:27
When I first shared this verse with Nella we talked about each "part" of us that is instructed to love God… our heart, our soul, our strength, and our minds. I love the way The Message says it, "all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence. What does it mean to love God with all of these things? My first thought of the heart is how it is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). I also think about how our words, what comes out of our mouths, and all we do reveals the condition of our heart (Luke 6:45), which if we think about what we say and do sometimes, it seems much less than honorable before God. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts (above all else) because it is the wellspring of life. Our hearts can be the storehouse of good, but also of evil. They can be filled with light, peace, love and compassion; but also calloused, dulled and far from God. The good news, however, is the solution provided through Christ to our "heart problem". If we are going to love the Lord our God with all our heart, we first need Christ to change our heart! This has had a great impact on how we view the disciplining of our children. Discipline should be centered on more than just changing the behavior… it should be centered around leading our children to the cross, where there is change in the heart. Tedd Tripp, author of Shepherding A Child's Heart, says it like this:
When I first shared this verse with Nella we talked about each "part" of us that is instructed to love God… our heart, our soul, our strength, and our minds. I love the way The Message says it, "all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence. What does it mean to love God with all of these things? My first thought of the heart is how it is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). I also think about how our words, what comes out of our mouths, and all we do reveals the condition of our heart (Luke 6:45), which if we think about what we say and do sometimes, it seems much less than honorable before God. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts (above all else) because it is the wellspring of life. Our hearts can be the storehouse of good, but also of evil. They can be filled with light, peace, love and compassion; but also calloused, dulled and far from God. The good news, however, is the solution provided through Christ to our "heart problem". If we are going to love the Lord our God with all our heart, we first need Christ to change our heart! This has had a great impact on how we view the disciplining of our children. Discipline should be centered on more than just changing the behavior… it should be centered around leading our children to the cross, where there is change in the heart. Tedd Tripp, author of Shepherding A Child's Heart, says it like this:
"You see, then, how heart attitudes direct behavior. It is always true. All behavior is linked to some attitude of the heart. Therefore, discipline must address attitudes of the heart. This understanding does marvelous things for discipline. It makes the heart the issue, not just the behavior. It focuses correction on deeper things than changed behavior. The point of confrontation is what is occurring in the heart. Your concern is to unmask your child's sin, helping them to understand how it reflects a heart that has strayed. That leads to the cross of Christ. It underscores the need for a Savior. It provides opportunities to show the glories of God, who sent His Son to change hearts and free people enslaved to sin."
I see the link between the attitude of my heart and my behavior so clearly in my own life. And I am beyond words, grateful for the meaning of the cross to my life. And so, Paul's prayer for the church of Ephesus in Ephesians 3:16-18 is my greatest prayer for my children: "I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grown down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love it."
I see the link between the attitude of my heart and my behavior so clearly in my own life. And I am beyond words, grateful for the meaning of the cross to my life. And so, Paul's prayer for the church of Ephesus in Ephesians 3:16-18 is my greatest prayer for my children: "I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grown down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love it."
God, you are so gracious to me. I am so unworthy of the great depths of your love for me, yet I am called your own, your daughter. Thank you.
