Love With It All

Restraints – tied up, bound, gagged, locked in-or-out sounds like terror to me but to little boys— well, I used to shake my head and roll my eyes! O. S. Hawkins writes, “We are to hold nothing back when we love God.” In other words, love Him with no restraint! Typically, we try to live frugally and limit ourselves from spending frivolously. Jesus’ words, “love … with all your heart … soul … strength … mind” (Luke 10:27) don’t translate into control yourself. What thought, action, behavior, activity, or effort is exempt from Christ’s command? Perhaps we are guilty of “lip service” as described in Matthew 15:8 – “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” What part of a person is missing when Jesus says heart-soul-strength-mind? None – it’s all there, no part missing! To love with no restraint is total abandon, no considering or debate [consciously or unconsciously] whether to love or not. Love with the whole person – give that love all I’ve got, all the time, in all circumstances, to all people. The gears of the heart-soul-strength-mind are greased and engaged, turned by a passionate love for Christ. Good gracious, how do we do this in this imperfect world of evil and injustice? “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8). Aha! Not in our own strength but by His grace, we are able to live up to and honor the Name of Christ – it’s how we … love without restraints … love with it all!