Living Like a Christian – Lesson 7: Love God with All Your Heart

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 6:1-15

Memory Verse: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Introduction:

Have you ever thought about how much you love God? Do you show God how much you love Him?

I heard a man say one time that God only created us to be His puppets-on-a-string. Think about this statement. If it were true that we are only puppets to God, we would be no more than a doll in God’s eyes. Have you ever tried to hug a doll? No matter how much love you give a doll, it never loves back. It cannot give you a hug or express to you how much it loves you. It is lifeless and non­committal in its expression of love.

Does God really want this of His precious children? Absolutely not! He desires us to show our love for Him. He loves us and He wants us to return that love. He doesn’t want us to just occasionally say, “I love you.” He wants us to daily show with everything that makes us “us,” that we love Him. In all we do, in all we say, in everything that we are, we should show God that He is our Lord and that we love Him.

The French evangelical preacher, Adolphe Monod, said just before dying in 1856, “I have strength for nothing more than to love God and think about His love for me. He has loved us—that is the whole of dogma. We must love Him—that is the sum total of the Gospel.”

Lesson Questions:

  1. What does Jesus say was the first commandment? Matthew 22:37-38. How can we love the Lord our God all day and every day with all our heart, mind and soul? Deuteronomy 6:4-9,
  2. Does the Lord look upon appearances? 1 Samuel 16:7; Proverbs 21:2; Jeremiah 17:10.
  3. What things issue forth from the heart? Matthew 12:34-35.
  4. Is it necessary for those who serve the Lord to receive a new heart? Jeremiah 24:7; Ezekiel 36:26; John 3:3.
  5. How does what we say and do demonstrate what is in our heart? Matthew 12:33-37.
  6. If we obey His word, and “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,” (Matthew 6:33) what kinds of blessings follow? Deuteronomy 6:3; Psalm 84:5, 11-12; Philippians 4:19; Isaiah 26:3.
  7. What instruction did Jesus give about the heart? Matthew 5:8; Matthew 11:29.

Who should direct our hearts? 1 Kings 8:58; Psalm 51:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:5.