Attitudes Toward God

When the lawyer tested Jesus by asking what the great commandment was, Jesus answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 22:36-40. Christians today need an all-consuming love for God; He must be first in their hearts, soul and minds. Jesus demands a love for Himself greater than any other love. Christians must put away their selfishness and allow their love for Him to control their minds and behavior. Paul spoke of his consuming love for Christ in sacrificial terms when he said "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  Galatians 2:20. This crucifixion means that we die to ourselves so that we can live for our Lord. He is our first and last thought; He is our breath and food. We ought to sing with our lives as well as our lips, "He is my everything, He is my all."   ---Phil Sanders Adrift, Postmodernism in the Church