One of our memory verses for the winter camps has been Luke 10:27, "...You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind...". Unfortunately we didn't really get to talk about the verse until Sunday morning, but it was an enlightening conversation . . .
"I don't think it should have all the "and with all's". It should just say, "with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind". . . . "But that's the way GOD wrote it." . . . "Oh."
"I don't want to be obsessed about anything."
"I love the Lord with all my heart, but I don't want to be obsessed with Him - that would be weird!"
Unfortunately, the two girls that said these things demonstrated all throughout the weekend that they were indeed obsessed with someone. ;0) And so I've been pondering the chasm between what it means to really love the Lord and what is often meant when someone says they love the Lord . . . and thinking about how I can explain it more clearly. Loving God often means that we have good feelings toward Him, not that He is our all in all . . . and we are often so far from loving Him with ALL our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Our puppy is such a good illustration of obsession, haha. If you have a ball in your hand, his eyes are on it, following it wherever it goes. The other day Dad forgot that Liam was sitting there as he was telling us a story and talking with his hand, which happened to have Liam's ball in it. Finally, at an appropriate chance, I interrupted him and told him that he was torturing Liam! :0) Liam is also obsessed with cars. If a car door is open . . . he is in the car, waiting patiently for us to go! Well today, Dad was working on our little two-door car. I walked outside and found Liam sitting in the passenger seat while Dad was in the driver's seat. I saw Liam's kong (throw toy) laying on the ground so I picked it up to see what he would do. (There was no easy way for him to get out of the car...) His eyes were on me and when he saw me pick up his toy, he licked his lips, thought for a split-second, jumped into the back seat and then out behind the drivers seat, haha . . . he was ready to fetch! :0) I just thought it was so cute that his first response was to lick his lips in anticipation. :0)But as our camper mentioned, being obsessed with Jesus can cause others to think that you are weird. (Who cares!) It means that Jesus is the reason for everything that you do, or don't do, and that you are passionate about Him and Him alone. It has been very encouraging for me to re-read Hudson Taylor's biography. When he moved to London to further his education, he moved into his uncle's boarding house. "Business, politics and pleasure-seeking absorbed their attention, and his uncle and cousin did their best to draw him into the same sort of life." Hudson stood firm in his faith and love for the Lord and it wasn't too long before his cousin saw and wanted what he had. (Praise God! :0)
So what am I trying to say? haha, good question! :0) I guess I'm saying that I want to be a little more like our puppy . . . to be licking my lips with anticipation each time I sit down to study the Word. To be constantly aware of "where" Jesus is and eagerly attune to His movements. I don't want to settle for what people see today as the "normal" Christian life. I want to press in and obtain each of the promises written in His Word. This only comes, though, by faith and complete abandonment to Him. Yes, I am willing to be "weird". ;0)
"And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets - who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions," Hebrews 11:32-33
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