In Matthew 22:37-38 I read, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” (NIV)
God wants to be at the very center of my life. Not on the edge, and not just a segment. The God of the universe—the God who made and loves me—wants to be the hub of my heart and the axis of my existence.
Here’s another way to look at it: God wants to have a love relationship with me.
The Bible says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38 NIV).
The truth is, I’m going to center my life around something. I may center it around my career, family, or hobbies. I may center it around making money or being popular.
But putting anything besides God at the center of my life is an idol. Exodus 20:3-4 says, “You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea” (NLT).
How do I know when something has taken center stage in my life instead of God? It’s simple. When God’s not at the center, I start to worry and stress out; I get fearful. These are the warning lights that God is no longer the nucleus of my heart.
In contrast, how can I tell when my life is centered on God? I’m at peace. I stop worrying. The Bible says, “A sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life” (Philippians 4:7 The Message).
Ask yourself this: “What’s going to be the center for the rest of my life?” It’s the most important thing I will ever have to decide.
In summary, God wants to be at the very center of my life. Not on the edge, and not just a segment. The God of the universe who made and loves me, wants to be the hub of my heart and the axis of my existence. God wants to have a love relationship with me. I’m going to center my life around something. Putting anything besides God at the center of my life is an idol. Exodus 20:3-4 reminds me, “You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything...”. When something has taken center stage in my life instead of God, I start to worry and stress out; I get fearful. These are the warning lights that God is no longer the nucleus. When my life is centered on God, I’m at peace and I stop worrying. So what’s going to be the center for the rest of my life? It’s the most important thing I will ever have to decide.
Jesus said that if I truly love God and my neighbor, I will naturally keep the commandments. This is looking at God's law positively. Rather than worrying about all we should not do, I should concentrate on all I can do to show my love for God and others.
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