The Final Secret: Love the Lord Thy God With All Thy Heart

The Command That Becomes a Promise

Jesus reminds us that the greatest commandment is to love the lord thy god with all thy heart, soul, and mind. This command, found in Matthew 22:37, stands as the cornerstone of our faith. Yet, as Frederick Buechner so beautifully observed, there exists a final secret within this familiar verse—a secret that transforms everything.

“THE FINAL SECRET, I think, is this: that the words ‘You shall love the Lord your God’ become less a command than a promise in the end. And the promise is that, yes, on the weary feet of faith and the fragile wings of hope, we will come to love him at last as from the first he has loved us—loved us even in the wilderness, especially in the wilderness, because he has been in the wilderness with us. He has been in the wilderness for us. He has been acquainted with our grief. And, loving him, we will come at last to love each other too so that, in the end, the name taped on every door will be the name of the one we love.”

This devotional on Matthew 22:37 explores this profound transformation—how what begins as God’s command gradually reveals itself as God’s promise. The journey from obligation to desire, from law to love, represents perhaps the most beautiful arc in the Christian life. Let’s explore this final secret together.

Understanding Matthew 22:37 in Context

Matthew 22:37 contains one of the most profound teachings of Jesus about our relationship with God. When a lawyer approached Jesus to test Him, asking which commandment was greatest, Jesus responded without hesitation: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (NLT).

This wasn’t a new teaching. Jesus was quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5, part of the ancient Jewish prayer known as the Shema, recited daily by faithful Jews. What makes this moment significant is that Jesus identified this love the lord with all your heart bible verse as the foundation upon which all other commandments rest.

The historical context adds depth to our understanding. In first-century Judaism, religious leaders often debated which of the 613 commandments in Torah held primacy. Some emphasized ritual purity, others sacrifice, and still others, ethical behavior. By elevating this command to love God completely, Jesus cut through these debates to the heart of faith.

In the original Hebrew of Deuteronomy, the word for “love” (אָהַב, ‘ahav) conveys not merely emotion but covenant loyalty—a committed, active love. Similarly, in the Greek of Matthew’s Gospel, the word “love” (ἀγαπήσεις, agapēseis) points to a deliberate, chosen love that transcends feeling. This isn’t about warm sentiments but about wholehearted devotion.

A thorough Matthew 22:37-40 explanation must consider both the command to love God and the command to love others that follows. Jesus links these inseparably, showing that authentic love for God necessarily flows outward toward others.

Love the Lord Thy God With All Thy Heart: The Emotional Dimension

When we love the lord thy god with all thy heart, we begin to understand the true nature of devotion. But what does this mean practically? In biblical understanding, the heart (καρδία, kardia in Greek) represents far more than emotions—it encompasses the center of our will, decisions, and character.

St. Augustine reflected on this dimension of love, writing: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” This restlessness points to our heart’s true home. The early church fathers understood that loving God with our heart means orienting our deepest desires toward Him.

This emotional dimension involves:

1. Affection – Genuine delight in God’s presence and character
2. Desire – Longing for deeper communion with God
3. Loyalty – Steadfast commitment even when feelings fluctuate

The command to love God with our heart challenges the modern notion that love is primarily about feelings. Biblical love begins with choice and commitment. As C.S. Lewis noted, “The feeling of love is not love itself.” Yet paradoxically, genuine affection often follows as we choose to love God.

The heart’s capacity for love isn’t static. Like a muscle, it grows stronger with exercise. Daily choices to turn our attention toward God gradually reshape our desires. What begins as discipline often blossoms into delight.

Yet we must acknowledge our heart’s complexity. The prophet Jeremiah observed, “The heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9). Our hearts can be divided, distracted, and self-deceiving. This is precisely why loving God completely requires divine assistance—the very promise Buechner identifies.

Loving With All Your Soul: The Spiritual Dimension

The profound Matthew 22:37-40 meaning encompasses our relationship with God and others. The second aspect Jesus mentions is loving God with all our soul. In the original languages, the Hebrew nephesh and Greek psychē refer to our life essence—our very being and identity.

To love God with all our souls means offering our entire lives as an act of worship. It’s about identity—seeing ourselves primarily in relationship to God rather than through other lenses like career, relationships, or achievements.

St. John Chrysostom wrote that loving God with our soul means “to be ready to give up our life for the love of God.” This readiness for sacrifice echoes Jesus’s own words that whoever loses their life for His sake will find it (Matthew 16:25).

This soul-love manifests in:

1. Surrender – Yielding our autonomy to God’s direction
2. Worship – Offering praise that flows from our deepest being
3. Identity – Finding our true self in relationship with God

Many ask what Matthew 22:37 means when it speaks of loving God with all our souls. Perhaps it’s best understood as loving God with our whole life story—past, present, and future. It means inviting God into every chapter, every scene, and every plot twist of our existence.

The early desert fathers and mothers demonstrated this soul-love through radical simplicity and devotion. By stripping away distractions, they created space for their souls to commune with God. While few of us are called to such extreme measures, their example challenges us to examine what might be crowding God out of our souls.

The beautiful transformation occurs when command becomes promise in our spiritual journey. As we offer our souls to God—even imperfectly—we discover that He has been pursuing our souls all along. The command to love becomes the promise that we will love, because He first loved us.

Loving With All Your Mind: The Intellectual Dimension

Understanding what Matthew 22:37 means requires examining the three aspects of love mentioned, including the mind. The Greek word for “mind” (διάνοια, dianoia) refers to our thinking, understanding, and intellectual capacity. Jesus’s inclusion of the mind is significant, especially in our age that often separates spirituality from intellect.

Loving God with our mind means:

1. Seeking Understanding – Pursuing knowledge of God through Scripture, tradition, and reason
2. Critical Thinking – Examining our faith honestly and thoughtfully
3. Intellectual Integrity – Refusing to compartmentalize our faith from other knowledge

The early Christian theologian Origen emphasized the importance of the mind in loving God, writing: “The divine Scripture wishes the intellect to be the judge of all things.” Similarly, Augustine’s famous phrase “faith seeking understanding” captures this intellectual dimension of love.

This Christian devotional explores how the greatest commandment becomes the greatest promise through the renewal of our minds. Romans 12:2 speaks of being “transformed by the renewing of your mind,” suggesting that our thought patterns play a crucial role in spiritual transformation.

In practical terms, loving God with our mind might include:

• Regular, thoughtful study of Scripture
• Engaging with challenging theological questions
• Bringing intellectual honesty to our faith journey
• Allowing our Christian worldview to inform all areas of knowledge

The command to engage our intellect in loving God challenges both anti-intellectual strains of Christianity and purely academic approaches to faith. True love of God integrates heart, soul, and mind rather than elevating one above the others.

When we love the lord god with our minds, we discover that faith and reason are not opponents but allies in the pursuit of truth. As John Paul II wrote in Fides et Ratio, “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth.”

From Command to Promise: The Final Secret

These devotional reflections on Matthew 22:37 explore how the command becomes a promise. Frederick Buechner’s insight provides a perfect framework for understanding this transformation. The command to love the lord thy god with all thy heart transforms from obligation to promise through God’s persistent love.

How does this happen? Consider three movements in this journey:

1. The Command Reveals Our Inability

When we honestly confront the command to love God completely, we quickly recognize our inadequacy. Our hearts wander, our souls grow weary, our minds become distracted. This recognition of inability is actually the beginning of grace—for it drives us to depend on God rather than our own strength.

2. God Meets Us in the Wilderness

Buechner’s insight that God “has been in the wilderness with us” echoes the incarnation itself. In Jesus, God entered our wilderness of confusion, suffering, and limitation. As Hebrews tells us, He became “acquainted with our grief.” This divine companionship transforms our understanding of the command.

3. His Love Awakens Our Love

“We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). This simple verse captures the essence of the final secret. God’s prior love for us is what enables our love for Him. The command becomes a promise because God Himself provides what He requires.

In this, the final secret devotional, we discover that God has been with us in the wilderness. The journey toward loving God completely is a lifelong process of transformation. We don’t achieve perfect love in an instant but grow gradually as God’s love reshapes us from within.

The wisdom in this Frederick Buechner devotional helps us see God’s presence in our wilderness. Even our failures to love God perfectly become occasions for grace when we bring them honestly before Him. The command to love becomes the promise that we will love, because love itself—God Himself—is working within us.

Practical Ways to Embrace the Promise

A meaningful Christian devotional should challenge us to examine our hearts honestly. How might we participate in this journey from command to promise? Consider these practical approaches:

How to Love God with Your Heart:

1. Practice Gratitude – Begin each day by thanking God for specific blessings, cultivating a heart of appreciation.
2. Examine Desires – Regularly reflect on what you most deeply want, asking God to align your desires with His.
3. Express Affection – Incorporate personal, heartfelt expressions of love in your prayers, moving beyond formulas.

For Loving God with Your Soul:

1. Create Silence – Set aside regular quiet times to be in God’s presence without an agenda.
2. Offer Your Story – Share your life narrative with God, including the chapters you’d rather skip.
3. Practice Presence – Develop awareness of God’s companionship throughout ordinary moments.

To Love God with Your Mind:

1. Study Deeply – Move beyond surface reading of Scripture to thoughtful engagement with the text.
2. Ask Questions – Bring your doubts and uncertainties before God rather than suppressing them.
3. Integrate Faith – Look for connections between your faith and other areas of knowledge and experience.

The love the Lord with all your heart Bible verse calls us to complete devotion to God. Yet this devotion isn’t achieved through willpower alone. As we take small, faithful steps toward God, we discover Him already moving toward us. The command to love becomes the promise that we will love because He enables what He requires.

Conclusion: The Promise Fulfilled

This devotional on Matthew 22:37 explores the journey from command to promise. Frederick Buechner’s profound insight reveals that God’s command to love Him completely contains within it the promise that we will indeed come to love Him—“at last as from the first he has loved us.”

The final secret isn’t that we must somehow manufacture perfect love for God. Rather, it’s that God’s perfect love for us gradually awakens our love for Him. What begins as duty blossoms into desire. What starts as obligation transforms into delight.

And wonderfully, as Buechner notes, this love extends beyond our relationship with God to embrace others as well. “Loving him, we will come at last to love each other too.” The two great commandments—love God and love neighbor—merge into a single movement of divine love flowing through us.

May we be reminded that the command to love the lord thy god with all thy heart, soul, and mind is ultimately God’s promise to us. On “the weary feet of faith and the fragile wings of hope,” we journey toward the love that has always been journeying toward us.

Reading List/Bibliography:

1. Buechner, Frederick. Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons. HarperOne, 2007.
2. Lewis, C.S. The Four Loves. Harcourt Brace, 1960.
3. Nouwen, Henri J.M. The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming. Doubleday, 1994.
4. Peterson, Eugene H. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society. InterVarsity Press, 2000.
5. Wright, N.T. After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters. HarperOne, 2012.