Freely Speaking Audio Devotion
Welcome to Freely Speaking, an OHSOFREE devotional ministry where we share our hearts and trust God for transformation.
Today’s devotion, Loving God and Others with All Your Soul, was written by Sharee Gaiser.
Let’s begin with our scripture from Mark Chapter 12, verse 30:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30 NIV
Years of Sunday school lessons taught me three things: God is love, I am loved, and the most important thing is loving God and people.
However, life experience skewed my view, leaving me feeling like love always had strings attached. I believed a lie that love was conditional on my performance, and I needed to tick all the right boxes to be lovable to God and others. Herein lay the problem. An issue in my soul interfered with how I loved God and people.
In my head, I knew God loved me, but I allowed the performance lie to dictate, resulting in me feeling and acting like I was unlovable if I messed up, didn’t make the grade, or disappointed others. My capacity to love God and others soon became conditional on their behavior or how they made me feel. It was easy to love when I was treated well. When God and others didn’t meet my expectations, I felt let down or took offense, it became hard.
With things out of kilter, I needed to pay attention to what was happening in my soul. Replacing the lies I believed about performance-based love would help me stand on the foundational truth that God loved me unconditionally. I could then learn to love God and others without expecting anything in return.
1 John 1:8 reminds us that God is love. He doesn’t love us more when we do the right things or love us less when we mess up. Therefore, the issue of our value is not dependent on anything we do but was settled at the cross by Jesus. This truth applies to every single one of us. It also helps me place this same value upon others.
In Mark 12:30, Jesus instructs us to love God with our whole soul. The Hebrew word for “soul” is nephesh, referring to life, self, desire, or emotion. As much-loved daughters of the living God, our identity in Christ is the foundation of a healthy soul. When we truly know God loves us, our souls and behavior are healthy, transforming our ability to love God and others.
When our entire soul loves God, He is the focus of our affections. Standing on a foundation of God’s love, we will find freedom from performing to earn love. We will act obediently and love others without expecting anything in return because of our deep affection for God. Oh, what freedom there is to be loved and love without conditions!
Do you believe you have to perform to earn God’s love? How has this impacted the way you love others? What would it take for you to accept the truth?
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