Jesus answered, “The first and most important [commandment] is:
‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord;
and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul (life),
and with all your mind (thought, understanding),
and with all your strength.’
Mark 12:29-30 Amplified Bible
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The true measure of loving God is to love him without measure.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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Following Jesus is not about diligently keeping a set of rules
or conjuring up the moral fortitude to lead good lives.
It’s about loving God and enjoying Him.
Francis Chan
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Loving God means rejoicing in God,
being eager to think of and pray to God.
It means being glad to be in God’s presence and to be with God alone.
It means not grieving God,
but rejoicing in God simply because it is God who is involved,
and because we are permitted to know and have God,
and to speak with and live with God.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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O my soul, come, praise the Eternal
with all that is in me—
body, emotions, mind, and will—
every part of who I am—
praise His holy name.
O my soul, come, praise the Eternal;
sing a song from a grateful heart;
sing and never forget all the good He has done.
Psalm 103:1-2 The Voice
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The final secret, I think, is this:
that the words “You shall love the Lord your God”
become, in the end, less a command than a promise.
Frederick Buechner