Combining I John 4:19 with the first and greatest commandment (Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27), we might say, “We love [the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength,] because He first loved us” with His all. He initiated this covenant relationship. He loved us first.
Knowing that love is first and foremost an action before it’s an emotion, then loving God with all we’ve got means that our actions of obedience before the Lord is a response to His actions of grace toward us. So for corporate worship on the Lord’s Day, loving Him with all we’ve got means that we wear our “Sunday best,” present our tithes and offerings, and sing with all our might, not because we are trying to impress Him, as if we hope to present Him with something He’s never before seen or heard. He knows our thoughts afar off (Ps. 139:2), so how can we surprise or impress Him?
We are to “come before [the Lord’s] presence with thanksgiving” (Ps. 95:2); we are to “enter into His gates with thanksgiving” (Ps. 100:4); we are to “sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving” (Ps. 147:7). What are we giving thanks for? Well, what has the Lord done for you lately? We don’t have time to share all that God has done for even the youngest single covenant member here right now. But those things we have scheduled to do, the songs we have scheduled to sing, we can and must offer unto “the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength,” … not because we can impress God; but we responsively offer our best with hearts of thankfulness to Him for giving us His best. Psalm 103:1-2 – “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”
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