Welcome!

I am so glad you stopped by and I hope you will come back often. Are you ready to have some challenging conversations about loving God? That is what I am aiming to do here.

Let's look today at one of the best known verses in the Old Testament. Faithful Jews around the world pray this daily and Christians know it as the great commandment:

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." 
Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV)

Just listen to those words.  They accuse us, don't they?  Who can say that they love God with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their might?  Seriously, all??  When he was asked which is the "great" commandment, Jesus pointed to this.  It is great, in so many ways. Huge, even.

To scale this Mount Everest of commandments, we need the grace of God.  I hope that this blog can be a place of grace where we can help each other to love God better. I will offer passages from Scripture and quotes from writers past and present. I will also ask questions to get us thinking. Please comment early and often! Your participation is the engine that will drive this train.

Here is a question to get us started: What obstacles do you face today that hinder you from loving God whole-heartedly?

Comments

  1. E. ParkNovember 22, 2017 at 6:05 AM

    I think that the biggest obstacle I face in this regard is distraction. Distraction from the reality of my great need for His grace. The more I face my own depravity in light of His sacrifice, how can I not love my incredible Savior?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Norm CarterNovember 23, 2017 at 4:37 AM

      So true, Emilie! At some point I will do a post about looking at the things that make God lovely. Distractions are like rabbits that run across our path. I'm so often guilty of chasing them instead of sticking to the road.

      Delete
  2. Cheryl WatermanNovember 22, 2017 at 6:30 AM

    Worry! We all have concerns in our lives, but I am one of those people who has to take those concerns captive as soon as they enter my mind, wrap them up and place them at Jesus feet. If I don't the concerns grow bigger and blot out my view of the Savior who is standing there ready to carry them for me! Thanks for the reminder, Norm, to keep my focus on loving God - not on the worries of life!

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    Replies
    1. Norm CarterNovember 23, 2017 at 4:31 AM

      You're welcome, Cheryl! I also need to be reminded to keep things in proper focus, and that's the main reason I wanted to start this blog. Personally, I often find that things get blurry not because of outside pressures or concerns but because of my own attraction to the trivial. "Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways." (Psalm 119:37 ESV)

      Delete
  3. Someone Who CaresNovember 22, 2017 at 3:28 PM

    Busyness. It can be so easy to get so busy serving God that spending time loving Him and developing the relationship can be unintentionally put to the side. The same thing can happen with family. Sometimes I think you can get so secure in someone's love that you forget to show the love back.

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    Replies
    1. Norm CarterNovember 23, 2017 at 4:17 AM

      Yes, Kim! Busyness can be one long series of distractions, can't it? Interestingly, I have also found idleness to be an obstacle to loving God. Reminds me of how Martin Luther is said to have compared humanity to a drunkard who, after falling off his horse on the right, falls off it next time on the left.

      Delete

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