Love God With All You’ve Got
08/26/2026
There are a lot of things competing for our hearts. Some of them are obviously wrong, but most aren’t. Family. Work. Success. Security. Our plans for the future. Even ministry can quietly become something we love more than the One we’re supposed to be serving. Jesus brings us back to what matters most—and He doesn’t leave much room for halfway.
“And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”
Matthew 22:37 (ESV)
A lawyer had asked Jesus a question: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
There were plenty to choose from. But Jesus didn’t give him a complicated theological answer. He went straight to Deuteronomy 6 and brought everything back to our relationship with God.
Love God.
But notice Jesus didn’t simply say, “Love God.” He said with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.
There’s that little word again: all.
We’ve been talking at church lately about the difference between almost and all in, and this verse gets right to the heart of it. Jesus isn’t looking for a corner of our lives. He isn’t asking to be one priority among several competing priorities. He is worthy of the whole thing.
And that can get uncomfortable.
Because I can love God and still have parts of my life I don’t want Him messing with.
I can love God on Sunday and still want control on Monday.
I can trust Him with my eternity but struggle to trust Him with my finances, my family, my future, or the thing I’ve been praying about that still hasn’t worked out the way I wanted.
That’s where this commandment becomes more than something we memorize.
Loving God with all our heart means He gets access to our desires—not just our behavior. It means we’re willing to let Him change what we want.
Loving God with all our soul means our relationship with Him isn’t simply something we add to an already busy life. He becomes the center from which everything else flows.
And loving God with all our mind means our thoughts belong to Him too. What we dwell on. What we believe. What we allow to shape our thinking. What we do when fear starts writing stories about tomorrow.
This kind of love isn’t primarily about emotion. There will be mornings when you feel close to God and mornings when you don’t. There will be prayers that seem powerful and others where you wonder if they made it past the ceiling.
Love keeps choosing Him anyway.
Think about marriage. If I told my wife, “I love you with 80% of my heart. The other 20% is mine to do whatever I want with,” I’m pretty sure that conversation isn’t going to end well.
Why would we think Jesus is satisfied with that arrangement?
God doesn’t ask for all of us because He wants to take something good away from us. He asks for all of us because He knows what happens when our hearts get divided. Eventually something else begins sitting in the place only God can occupy.
And whatever occupies that place will eventually control us.
Money can.
Approval can.
Fear can.
Success can.
Comfort can.
Even people we deeply love can.
Jesus gives us the order that keeps everything else in its proper place: God first. God fully. God above everything.
And here’s where I think we need to be careful. None of us does this perfectly. Loving God with all that we are isn’t a box we check and announce, “Finished that one.”
It’s a daily surrender.
Today there may be another part of your heart God puts His finger on.
What about this?
And we get to decide whether we’re going to hold tighter or open our hands.
That might be the question worth carrying around today:
Is there anything in my life that I’m asking God not to touch?
Because sometimes the clearest evidence that we love God isn’t what we’re willing to do for Him.
It’s what we’re willing to surrender to Him.
Action Steps
* Do a heart check. Ask God to show you anything that has begun competing with Him for first place.
* Give Him something specific. Instead of a general “I surrender everything” prayer, name one area you’ve been holding tightly and place it before Him.
* Love God practically today. Let your love for Him change one decision, conversation, thought pattern, or priority.
Challenge for the Day
Identify one area of your life where you’ve been giving God almost everything, and make one concrete decision today that moves you toward all in.
Prayer
Father, I don’t want to give You only the parts of me that are easy to surrender. I want to love You with my whole heart, my whole soul, and my whole mind. Show me where something else has taken a place that belongs to You. Give me the courage to loosen my grip and trust You with it. I love You, Lord. Help my life show it. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Pastor Jeff
#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign
There are a lot of things competing for our hearts. Some of them are obviously wrong, but most aren’t. Family. Work. Success. Security. Our plans for the future. Even ministry can quietly become something we love more than the One we’re supposed to be serving. Jesus brings us back to what matters most—and He doesn’t leave much room for halfway.
“And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”
Matthew 22:37 (ESV)
A lawyer had asked Jesus a question: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
There were plenty to choose from. But Jesus didn’t give him a complicated theological answer. He went straight to Deuteronomy 6 and brought everything back to our relationship with God.
Love God.
But notice Jesus didn’t simply say, “Love God.” He said with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.
There’s that little word again: all.
We’ve been talking at church lately about the difference between almost and all in, and this verse gets right to the heart of it. Jesus isn’t looking for a corner of our lives. He isn’t asking to be one priority among several competing priorities. He is worthy of the whole thing.
And that can get uncomfortable.
Because I can love God and still have parts of my life I don’t want Him messing with.
I can love God on Sunday and still want control on Monday.
I can trust Him with my eternity but struggle to trust Him with my finances, my family, my future, or the thing I’ve been praying about that still hasn’t worked out the way I wanted.
That’s where this commandment becomes more than something we memorize.
Loving God with all our heart means He gets access to our desires—not just our behavior. It means we’re willing to let Him change what we want.
Loving God with all our soul means our relationship with Him isn’t simply something we add to an already busy life. He becomes the center from which everything else flows.
And loving God with all our mind means our thoughts belong to Him too. What we dwell on. What we believe. What we allow to shape our thinking. What we do when fear starts writing stories about tomorrow.
This kind of love isn’t primarily about emotion. There will be mornings when you feel close to God and mornings when you don’t. There will be prayers that seem powerful and others where you wonder if they made it past the ceiling.
Love keeps choosing Him anyway.
Think about marriage. If I told my wife, “I love you with 80% of my heart. The other 20% is mine to do whatever I want with,” I’m pretty sure that conversation isn’t going to end well.
Why would we think Jesus is satisfied with that arrangement?
God doesn’t ask for all of us because He wants to take something good away from us. He asks for all of us because He knows what happens when our hearts get divided. Eventually something else begins sitting in the place only God can occupy.
And whatever occupies that place will eventually control us.
Money can.
Approval can.
Fear can.
Success can.
Comfort can.
Even people we deeply love can.
Jesus gives us the order that keeps everything else in its proper place: God first. God fully. God above everything.
And here’s where I think we need to be careful. None of us does this perfectly. Loving God with all that we are isn’t a box we check and announce, “Finished that one.”
It’s a daily surrender.
Today there may be another part of your heart God puts His finger on.
What about this?
And we get to decide whether we’re going to hold tighter or open our hands.
That might be the question worth carrying around today:
Is there anything in my life that I’m asking God not to touch?
Because sometimes the clearest evidence that we love God isn’t what we’re willing to do for Him.
It’s what we’re willing to surrender to Him.
Action Steps
* Do a heart check. Ask God to show you anything that has begun competing with Him for first place.
* Give Him something specific. Instead of a general “I surrender everything” prayer, name one area you’ve been holding tightly and place it before Him.
* Love God practically today. Let your love for Him change one decision, conversation, thought pattern, or priority.
Challenge for the Day
Identify one area of your life where you’ve been giving God almost everything, and make one concrete decision today that moves you toward all in.
Prayer
Father, I don’t want to give You only the parts of me that are easy to surrender. I want to love You with my whole heart, my whole soul, and my whole mind. Show me where something else has taken a place that belongs to You. Give me the courage to loosen my grip and trust You with it. I love You, Lord. Help my life show it. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Pastor Jeff
#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign
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