Deuteronomy 6:5 (NLT), “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”
 

How beautiful is it that the creator of the entire universe wants us to Himself, and desires to fellowship and have communion with us? However, He doesn’t ask for a casual friendship, He wants all of us! The Word of God is clear that the Lord calls us to wholeheartedly commit to Him and His ways. Not to appease Him and serve His need to control us. That’s simply not His nature. The Lord desires our wholehearted commitment to Him and His ways, so that we are continuously positioned to receive His protection, provision and blessing over our lives. However, all those benefits are really just the result or by-product that comes from the joy and exceedingly great treasure of intimately knowing Him and experiencing His tangible love. Knowing Him is the prize. Embracing His nearness is the ultimate reward! Which is why He requires our worship of Him to be sincere, not done out of compulsion. Our obedience to His ways should be from a joyful willingness, knowing His intentions towards us are always for our full benefit. Even in the Old Testament, sacrifices and worship offered to the Lord, that were void of sincere devotion, were not pleasing to Him. Lip service alone does nothing to impress Him. The Lord sees the intentions of our hearts and what we truly delight in. Nothing is hidden from His eyes. It would do us well to remember that the Lord loved us dearly and perfectly first, even while we were lost in sin. While we did not know Him, He was devoted to draw us towards Himself! He demonstrated His full commitment to us when He sacrificed His only Son so we could be reconciled to His heart. As we grow in knowing Him more, wholehearted surrender is no struggle. It’s those who truly know their God that are strong in the time of adversity and do great exploits for Him! (Daniel 11:32).