Scripture: "Jesus answered, The first (of all the commandments) is: Hear, 0 Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is One." — MARK xii. 29.
The law may command us to love, but it cannot make us love. It is powerless to force us to love God. Love can be called forth only by that which is worthy of love. Love to God can be born only of the knowledge of Him as the one true God, in His excellent greatness and glory, His unspeakable love and com¬passion. When Moses said, "The Lord our God is one God," he was making known the supreme right that God has to our love. It is when the love of God expressed in these words enters our hearts, "The Lord God, full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy and truth," that we are willing to accept the truth and love Him whole-heartedly.
We have already referred to God's command that we should love Him with all the heart, and all the soul, and all the mind, and all the strength. The soul that earnestly seeks will soon find the difficulty of continuance in this love unless it has a vision of how worthy God is to be loved with the whole heart. It is no wonder that Christians are afraid of the words "with all the heart and all the strength."
It is impossible for anyone, unless he has really confessed his sin, to understand how abundantly God forgives, and how rich He is in mercy. The heart filled with a burning desire to serve God will say : "God is indeed worthy of my love ; I will love Him with my whole heart."
Dear reader, here you have the secret of the prayer-life — to meet God each day, to live in the light of His love, to draw near in an absolute surrender to His will. We shall attain to this only as we daily approach the Throne of Grace with boldness. Let this be the great object of your life. You will find these two thoughts complete each other. God, the only Lord, in the glory of His unspeakable love, giving Himself wholly for us, and che soul in true worship and adoration giving itself to God with all the heart and all the strength.
