The Ideal of Christian Consecration.
Notice:
I. The character of the love of God. It is not necessary that we should accurately determine the philosophical signification of the words heart, soul, mind, and strength or might, in the Hebrew of Deuteronomy, or the Greek of Mark. Briefly, Christ is saying that the whole man must be enlisted in our love of God. (1) God claims from us a warm personal affection. Nothing will make up to God for the want of affection. The highest appreciation, the noblest worship, is that of love. (2) God must be loved for His moral excellence. Not only must our conscience approve our affection; it will be ever supplying us with new material for exalted worship. The sense of His righteousness will kindle gratitude into adoration; passionate desire after God will become enthusiasm for God as our moral sensibilities are disciplined to the perception of His holiness. (3) God claims from us, moreover, an intelligent affection. We must know whom we worship and wherefore we worship Him. Truth is a prime element of reverence, and reason and understanding have as their function to guide us in the knowledge of the truth. (4) God claims from us that we love Him with all our strength. The whole force of our character is to be in our affection for Him.
II. The unity of spiritual life in this love. The command of the text is introduced by a solemn proclamation, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." Consider the infinite worthiness of God. He is the source and object of all our powers. There is not a faculty which has not come from Him, which is not purified and exalted by consecration to Him. As all our powers make up one man reason and conscience, emotion and will uniting in a complete human life so for spiritual harmony and religious satisfaction there must be full consecration and discipline of all our powers.
III. The grounds and impulses of this love. In reality it was but one reason God is worthy of it; and the impulse to render it comes directly from our perception of His worthiness and the knowledge that He desires it from us. The claim for love, like all the Divine claims, is grounded in the character of God Himself, and it takes the form of commandment here because the Jews were "under the law."
A. Mackennal, The Life of Christian Consecration,p. 1, (see also Christian World Pulpit,vol. viii., p. 200).
References: Mark 12:29. R. Lee, Sermons.p. 169. Mark 12:29; Mark 12:30. R. Molyneux, Church of England Pulpit,vol. xiv., p. 279. Mark 12:29; Mark 12:31. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. xix., p. 93; R. Lee, Sermons,p. 197. Mark 12:30. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. iii., No. 162; R. Lee, Sermons,p. 183.