Love the Lord your God with all your might (3)

This post is going to conclude this three part study we have been working on, in deuteronomy 6:5. In this portion we are going to be focusing on "Love the Lord your God with all your...might." For the last time, once again, we must understand what the bible means by the word "might." In this part of the verse, some bibles translate the word to "strength" which is the same thing as "might." So for this post, we are going to be going by the word "strength" in order to avoid confusion. Now, when this piece of scripture is talked about in Mark 12:30 Jesus uses the greek word "ischus" which means: ability, might, power, strength. It is quite obvious that Jesus is not talking about our physical strength because everyone who is a christian is not "buff" or "ripped." Instead, Jesus is actually talking about our ability or our power. When Jesus comes into our life, he renews our strength or "ability"



Isaiah 40:31 "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."



In this verse it quite obviously is talking about our ability or power. Running is an ability that takes power; walking is an ability, these are all metaphorical examples of what God does to our ability. Furthermore, Proverbs 24:5 says:

"A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might,"

This verse is saying, in simpler words, that a man who is very wise or has much knowledge in God has more strength than a man who is unwise, and since not everyone who is smart is physically stronger than someone who isn't very smart, we must not make the mistake of assuming that the bible is speaking of physical strength. Now that we understand what the bible means by "strength," we can understand what it means to love God with all of our "strength." Since the word Jesus used in Mark 12:20 means ability, power, or strength. We know it is not physical strength or physical power and that leaves us stuck with "ability" which we have already talked about. The word ability means: "competance in an activity or occupation because of one's skill, or training." This may seem a little fuzzy, let me try to explain. God is our trainer and what he wants of us is our occupation, that he will train us in. So, in order to love God with all of our strength or ability, we must be willing to let God train us so that we are able, and willing to do what God has planned for us. As I was studying deuteronomy 6:5, I realized that that one verse really sums up pretty much the whole bible if you dig deep enough.