Do You Love Me?
April 27, 2017
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
Our Lord Jesus quotes this as being the greatest commandment of all.
“And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 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. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31). How do you measure up to this? Many of us would have to confess that we do not. We do not love Him with all of our mind and heart and soul. I must confess that I do not measure up to this; I wish I could, but I must say with Paul,
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13, 14).
I do want to say that I love Him. I wish I loved Him more than I do, but He is the object of my affection. I can truly say that I love Him. That is what He asked Simon Peter: “Do you love Me?” I think he would ask you and me the same question today.
To learn to love Him we must sit at His feet and come to know Him. He is the chiefest among ten thousand. He is the one altogether lovely. He is our God. He is our Savior. He is our Lord. I worship Him. I want to know Him better. What does He mean to you?
-Dr. J. Vernon McGee, from
Edited Messages on Deuteronomy