“Love the LORD with all your heart”
Deuteronomy 6:5
Cultural referenceSettledMoses
And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5 BSB)
* In Hebrew thought the 'heart' (lev) is the seat of will and thought, not merely emotion; loving God 'with all your heart' means the whole person, mind and choices included.
What it sounds like today
A call to feel deep affection for God.
The cultural key
This is the command Jesus called the greatest of all, and it follows immediately on the Shema's 'the LORD is One': because God is one, He is to be loved with an undivided whole self. Heart, soul, and strength together mean the total person, and in Hebrew the 'heart' is the center of thought and will, not just feeling, which is why Jesus expands it to include 'mind.' Love here is not primarily emotion but wholehearted allegiance.
Recovered meaning
To love God is not a mood but the orientation of the entire self, thought, desire, will, and strength, toward Him. Jesus makes this the first and greatest commandment, the hinge on which all the rest turn.
Parallels: Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 22:37