In “Other” Words…Wholehearted Love?

“To just read the Bible, attend church,
and avoid "big" sins -
is this passionate, wholehearted love for God? ”
~Francois Fenelon,
The Seeking Heart

What a quote! I was so excited Friday when I saw that this was going to be today’s In “Other” Words quote. How easy it is to fall into that trap~to “read the Bible, attend church, and avoid ‘big’ sins”~and feel like we are “set”. All of those things are important. It is vitally important that we saturate ourselves with God’s Word. We are commanded not to forsake the assembling of the Body. And we are told to “Be Holy” as He is Holy…not just to avoid “big sins” but “all sin”.

But it mustn’t stop there. Our heart must be in love with God. We are commanded to love Him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our strength, and with all of our mind.

And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

Luke 10:27

I’ve realized in the past few years that I had fallen hard into that trap…even though I *knew* better. I had let a list of do’s and don’ts take the place of a Relationship. Now…I still feel very strongly about many of those do’s and don’ts! But the motivation has changed.

God has used the experiences of the last few years to rekindle a passionate love relationship with Him. I have experienced that love in ways I never imagined before. I still fall very short…both in the wholehearted love relationship, and in the behaviors that should flow out of that. But…my heart’s desire is to please Him, to serve Him, and to obey Him, because of His great love and sacrifice for me. I so want to have a “passionate, wholehearted love for God”. I want to demonstrate that to my children.

As I said in this post, that is my primary goal as a mother:

“My primary goal is for my children to love the Lord with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength. Only if they truly love Him and have a personal walk with Him as not only Savior, but also Lord of their lives, will they truly be the successes that He...and I...want them to be. No matter what they look like on the outside, no matter how intelligent, polite, and "successful" they appear to be...if they haven't given their hearts to Him completely, it is all for naught.”

And if that is truly my primary goal as a mother, then I must live it myself. Not just for them, not just for my husband, but for *me* and my relationship with God. I want to be totally, passionately, on-fire-sold-out-in-love with Him. And I want that love to spill out wherever I am.

Speaking of passionate love, the book Crazy Love, by Francis Chan, has been on my wish list for a long time…since my friend Tauna first mentioned it to me months ago. This month it is the free download from ChristianAudio.com. I downloaded it today and can’t wait to listen!

Thanks to Debbie at HeartChoices for hosting In “Other” Words today. This is a great quote and one I needed to think about this week.