Self-Centered vs. God-Centered (Day Thirty-One)

Today we conclude our journey of "31 Days of Love". We hope that you have enjoyed our voyage together and have gleaned more about the true meaning of God's love just as much as we have.

For our final post on love we will be exploring what it means to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

"And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength." Mark 12:30 (NLT)

We are to love God FULLY - with every fiber of our being. He must be the center of our lives, but as fallen human beings with a sinful nature too often we put "self" as our focal point. Look at the world around you...most people are living self-centered lives in which their needs, wants, and desires are all they care about.

You can witness this on numerous occasions throughout the day, whether it be someone holding up traffic in the intersection because they don't have the courtesy to wait for the next light or while visiting the "Happiest Place on Earth" a group of people and all their friends manage to cut in front of you.

People are so self-absorbed - it's all about them.

Here in this verse each particular word holds a distinct connotation...    

Heart: Embodies the physical, emotional, and spiritual life of human beings. It is the birthplace of our feelings and emotions. When we love God with all our heart we love Him entirely and personally.

Mind: Refers to our intellect. The center where we reason, think, and learn. In order to love God with all our mind we must study Him and in doing so we continue to mature and gain knowledge of all He is.

Soul: Indicates the complete life of a person - your soul is both who and what you are. Loving God with all of our soul means that we allow Him to differentiate who and what we are.

Strength: Implies the energy you put forth in your work, job, etc. When we love God with all our strength we work the best we can, doing all our work unto Him and not man (Col. 3:23).

Many of us tend to connect to God and love Him in one area while still falling short in the remaining, but when we put the above four pieces together we are loving Him with all of ourselves. However, if we are putting "self" at the center of our life, our existence will be hollow and full of dissatisfaction.

Who does your life revolve around?