{"id":4506,"date":"2021-03-04T10:50:03","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T16:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theclarion.org\/?p=4506"},"modified":"2021-03-04T10:50:28","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T16:50:28","slug":"thoughts-from-the-bible-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/?p=4506","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts from The Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"

God Requires Dedication<\/strong>
\nby Terry Broome<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cJesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind\u201d (Matthew 22:37).
\nThis is the greatest commandment in all the world, and one that might be fairly easy to fulfill if it weren\u2019t for that one little word \u2013 ALL. Most of our readers would eagerly proclaim that we love the Lord, but might cringe a bit when we\u2019re asked to be truthful as to whether we love Him with ALL our hearts, souls, and minds. This all-consuming love would surely change the complexion of our brotherhood today. This is TRUE dedication!<\/p>\n

When one thinks of loving God with all the heart, we\u2019re reminded of Col. 3:1, \u201cIf ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above….\u201d We must set our affections on the heavenly and spiritual things to love God that way. Furthermore, we would have to enthrone God in the heart, 1 Peter 3:15, \u201cBut sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.\u201d Any way you look at it, God has to take first place in our affections and our meditations.<\/p>\n

When our Lord speaks of heart, soul, and mind, we might struggle to understand the sense in which He uses these words. Certainly \u201call the heart\u201d must regard all our affections. \u201cAll the soul\u201d encompasses our spiritual nature; and \u201call our mind\u201d speaks to all our thoughts and intellectual processes that must be brought into submission to His Truths. He leaves nothing out. When one sings \u201cAll to Jesus, I Surrender,\u201d he is echoing the spirit and intent of Matthew 22:37.<\/p>\n

Someone has suggested that this kind of dedication is the missing ingredient to personal Christianity. In the First Century, the disciples went everywhere preaching the Word. During their generation, the Gospel was preached \u201cto every creature which is under heaven\u201d (Col 1:23). Contemporaries of First Century Christians (such as the Romans) were largely indifferent to religion, yet Christians had a tremendous influence on these lives. In Acts 17:6 they were described as \u201chaving turned the world upside down.\u201d<\/p>\n

You and I must say \u201cYes\u201d to Jesus. We must submit to His will. We must be dedicated to His truths in prayer, compassion, and service. The fate of billions of people on planet Earth hinges on their being introduced to the Lord Jesus Christ. The hope of that ever happening lies within our hands. \u201cInto our hands the Gospel is given. Into our hands is given the light. Haste, let us carry God\u2019s precious message, guiding the erring back to the right.\u201d
\nThe author can be reached for comments at 256-574-2489.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God Requires Dedication by Terry Broome \u201cJesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind\u201d (Matthew 22:37).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tho"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4507,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506\/revisions\/4507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}