The expert answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
Luke 10:27-28 NET
An expert in the Jewish Law asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life. In response, Jesus asked this expert what he understood the law to say about the matter. And the expert answered correctly, identifying the same commandments that Jesus did elsewhere (Mark 12:29-31).
Luke tells us that this expert in the law then wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus to define who his neighbor was (Luke 10:29). In response, Jesus told him the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37). His neighbor was everyone that he encountered. And to love them meant to care for them and their needs.
But what does it mean to love God with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind? My heart, soul, strength, and mind represent my total being. I am to love him with all that I am. But that still does not answer what it means to love God.
The parable of the Good Samaritan can help answer this question. That parable told us who our neighbor is. But also how to love them. To love my neighbor is to put their needs ahead of my own. And that is what it means to love God with my whole being. He comes first.
I love God when my priority is to seek his kingdom (Matt. 6:33). I love God when I submit to him, pray, seek his face, and respond to his correction (2 Chron. 7:14). And I love God when I love my brothers and sisters in Christ (1 John 4:20-21). Loving God is more than a feeling. It involves giving him every part of who I am. It is surrender to him: heart, soul, strength, and mind.
