When Jesus was asked to identify God's greatest commandment, He answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30).
But what does this truly mean? What does it look like? Too often we give children "pie-in-the-sky" platitudes but without supplying practical steps they can apply in everyday life.
This unit will help your children know what it means to love God with actions — not just words. Your kids will discover how to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. They will also learn that loving God involves loving other people, too.
Lesson 1: Love With All Your Heart & Soul
The Bible refers to the heart over 600 times! It is the center of a person's emotions, will, and conscience. The Bible speaks of guarding our hearts, and we all know what it means to love someone with all our heart. The heart is important to God, and He wants our hearts to be His — while the world competes for them. A heart that is fully devoted to God will be a heart whose life follows after Him. Perhaps that is why God said the greatest commandment is to love Him with all your heart, for He knew that if He had our hearts, He would have everything else, too.
Lesson 2: Love With All Your Mind
Long before scientists discovered just how important the brain is, or even that it was the central part of decision making in the human body, the Bible provided plenty of input on the mind. The mind is the place where we make decisions and choices; therefore, the Bible emphasizes the importance of using our minds wisely. While we often hear children encouraged to "give their hearts to Jesus," it is equally important — and commanded by God — for us to give Him our minds as well. We love with our hearts, but we make decisions with our minds, and when we become followers of Christ, a renewal of our minds begins to take place. We invite God to start to influence the way we think and the way we make our choices. We have the opportunity to have the "mind of Christ"!
Lesson 3: Love With All Your Strength
The Christian life is not easy. It requires determination and effort. While we are forgiven and renewed, we are not instantly made new. God asks us to give Him our strength, and this refers to physical, emotional, and spiritual strength. It means to give God our all. The good news is, God promises to reward us if we work hard and do not give up! He also promises that we are not on our own, that He will give us His strength as we seek to follow Him! So our walk with God is a partnership between our effort and His empowering. We give our all, and God makes up the difference. It is in our weakness that we become strong because of Him!
Lesson 4: Love All Your Neighbors
When you find something fantastic, you want to tell others about it, right? What can be more wonderful than finding out that God loves us, forgives us, and offers us eternal life through Jesus? When we become followers of Jesus, God wants us to tell others too! If we wonder what it means to love our neighbors, God provides a secret — just love them the way we love ourselves. We never fail to love ourselves, so if we will just treat others the way we want to be treated, we will always know just what to do! God also makes it clear who our neighbors are — everyone we meet, regardless of who they are. If we know them, and they need Jesus, they are our neighbors!