The Love Languages

The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. – Proverbs 10:22

When Jesus was asked what the greatest, most important commandment was, he answered, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength” (Mark 12:30). These are the real love languages. When the apostle John writes about this command, he says, “I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have heard from the very beginning. This old commandment – to love one another – is the same message you heard before. Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it” (1 John 2:7-8).

Ask the Lord to help you love with your heart. “I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart” (Ezekiel 11:19).

Ask the Lord to help you love with your soul. “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).

Ask the Lord to help you love with your mind. “Come and listen to my counsel. I’ll share my heart with yond make you wise” (Proverbs 1:23).

Ask the Lord to help you love with your strength. “Praise the Lord, who is my rock. He trains my hands for war and gives my fingers skill for battle” (Psalm 144:1).

Love is nothing new – not really, even though the first blush of romance certainly feels new. God’s love is older than the mountains, older than the stars, and yet it’s new every morning. When God is your first love, that joy and excitement of romance will never end.

Prayer: Please search my heart and test my anxious thoughts. Don’t let me get away with going too fast too soon. Help me to seek you daily – with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Amen.