With All the Heart

One of the commandments that Moses gave to the children of Israel was that they were to love God with all their hearts.  The idea of loving God like this is repeated at least four times in the book of Deuteronomy. “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:5).  “What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12).  “The Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 13:3).  “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 30:6). 

As much as we think of the law of Moses as a set of outward commandments such as animal sacrifices and strict rituals, at the core we find the same fundamental purpose as the law of the gospel: to love God with all our heart.  Joshua would remind the children of Israel this after Moses left to be sure they understood what was really most important: “Take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Joshua 22:5).  That is the great quest of our lives.

                The Savior reiterated this commandment when He walked among His disciples.  The synoptic gospels all record the Savior’s repetition of what the Jews already knew from Deuteronomy.  “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matt. 22:37).  “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30).  “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind” (Luke 10:27).  In the Matthew account He even went so far as to say that on the commandments to love God and our neighbor “hang all the law and the prophets”—in other words, the whole law of Moses was founded in the fact that we should love God with all our hearts (Matt. 22:40).  In the Mark version, the scribe responded to the Savior’s words this way: “Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices (Mark 12:32-33).  Even this scribe understood that the most important part of the law of Moses was not the sacrifices and burnt offerings—loving God was what counted.  In our dispensation the Lord has again renewed the commandment: “Wherefore, I give unto them a commandment, saying thus: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him” (D&C 59:5).  It’s the quest of a lifetime as a disciple and I’m not quite sure how to develop such love for the Lord that it is with all my heart.  But I guess prayer is a good first step.  As Mormon taught us: “Pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ” (Moroni 7:48).  Perhaps that kind of prayer can help us develop great love for God in addition to loving our neighbor.