MY ALL IN ALL

“TEACHER, WHICH IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENT OF THE LAW?  AND HE SAID, ‘ YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND. THIS IS THE GREAT AND FOREMOST COMMANDMENT.” (MATTHEW 22:36-38)

The word “ALL”.  Three little letters packed with so much depth and meaning.  The Hebrew word for all is “kol” which means: the whole, any, each, every, anything, totality, everything. (H3605)  We are to love the Lord our God with our whole, entire, everything we’ve got being.  Not just our dressed up, Sunday morning best self, but every component of our mind, our emotions, our wills, and our strength. The very essence of who we are every moment of every day is what we are to dedicate daily to Him.

Why does the Lord require this of us?  For one simple reason: Because He has given His ALL towards us. 

WHO GOD IS:

• HE IS ABOVE ALL OTHER GODS:  "For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above ALL gods." (Psalm 135:5)
• HE IS HOLY:  "There is no one holy like the Lord, indeed there is no one besides You, nor is there any rock like our God." (I Samuel 2:2)
• HE IS RIGHTEOUS: "The Lord is righteous in ALL His ways and kind in ALL His deeds." (Psalm 145:17)
• HE IS FAITHFUL:  "For the word of the Lord is upright, and ALL His work is done in faithfulness" (Psalm 33:4)
• HE IS MERCY AND GRACE:  "But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth."  (Psalm 86:15)
• HE IS GOOD: "For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindess to ALL who call upon You."  (Psalm 86:5)
• HE IS LOVE:  "We love, because He first loved us." (I John 4:19)

There is no other God like our God!

WHO WE ARE:

• WE ARE HIS CREATION: "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:27)
• WE HAVE SINNED:  "ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
• WE HAVE GONE ASTRAY: "ALL of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way..." (Isaiah 53:6)

Compared to others, we may be moral and good people, but compared to God and His Holiness, we fall short of His glory.

WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR US:

• GOD HAS PAID THE PRICE:  "...but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us ALL to fall on Him." (Isaiah 53:6)
• GOD GAVE US HIS SON:  "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
• GOD HAS REDEEMED US:  "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us."  (Ephesians 1:7-8)
• GOD FORGIVES OUR SINS: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness."  (I John 1:9)

God created us for fellowship with Him, but when disobedience and sin entered into this world, it created a gap far too wide for us to fill.   So God, in His great wisdom and love, provided The Way, The Truth, and The Life to fill that gap: through believing in His Son, Jesus Christ.  “Jesus paid it ALL, ALL to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.” (From the hymn “Jesus Paid it All”).

WHAT HE ASKS OF US:

• BELIEVE IN HIM: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." (John 1:12)
• PLACE OUR TRUST IN HIM:  "Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In ALL your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."  (Proverbs 3:5-6)

The Lord asks us to simply believe in Him for salvation and then to trust by faith in Him daily to grow in His grace.  “ALL to Jesus, I surrender; ALL to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live. I surrender ALL, I surrender ALL, ALL to Thee my blessed Saviour, I surrender ALL.” (From the hymn: “I Surrender All.”)

HOW HE RESPONDS TO US:

• HE BLESSES US: "Blessed be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." (Ephesians 1:3)
• HE GIVES US FULLNESS OF LIFE: "I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)
• HE LOVES US: "ALL the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies." (Psalm 25:10)
• HE DRAWS NEAR TO US: "The Lord is near to ALL who call upon Him, to ALL that call upon Him in truth." (Psalm 145:18)
• HE PROTECTS US: "He is a shield to ALL who take refuge in Him." (Psalm 18:3)
• HE DELIVERS US FROM OUR FEARS: "I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from ALL my fears." (Psalm 34:4)
• HIS GRACE ABOUNDS TO US: "And God is able to make ALL grace abound to you, so that always have ALL sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed." (2 Corinthians 9:8)
• HE GIVES PURPOSE TO OUR LIVES: "And we know that God causes ALL things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according  to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

When responding to God with all of our selves, He responds to us with everything He has to bring us into fullness and fellowship with Him.

HOW WE RESPOND TO HIM:

• DWELL IN HIM: "One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord ALL the days of my life." (Psalm 27:4)
• WALK IN HIM: "so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in ALL respects, bearing fruit in EVERY good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." (Colossians 1:10)
• ABIDE IN HIM: "I am the vine and you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)
• GIVE THANKS TO HIM: "I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with ALL my heart, and will glorify Your name forever." (Psalm 86:12)

With grateful hearts, full of God’s love and mercy, we  respond to Him by giving ourselves more fully to HIm when we realize ALL the many ways He has blessed our lives with His abundant, overflowing grace.

Our relationship with the Lord should never be singular or linear. I get a ticket to heaven and prayers answered from God; He gets good behavior from me. Instead, our devotion to God should be multi-faceted and circular. He is in the center, filling us up with His presence, His goodness, His faithfulness in our lives every moment of every day. He becomes our first love, our first joy, our first delight.  Nothing else of this world will satisfy except His abundant grace and mercy and love. It’s about His Spirit indwelling us and overflowing in us to allow us to walk in a manner worthy of His calling as we fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ.  “Watch over your heart with ALL diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

How about you?  How are you responding to God the Father today?  Do you see Him as ALL mercy, goodness, love, and faithfulness?  If not, open up your Bible to the Psalms and read aloud about His character and who He is, praying His words back to Him and asking Him to reveal more of His character to you.  Are you in relationship with His Son, Jesus, today?  If not, He offers salvation to ALL who believe.  Stop and ask Him into your heart today.  If you are a Christ Follower and are in fellowship with Him, have you given Him your ALL, your everything?  You may have given Him your heart for salvation, but not your heart for day to day Lordship and fellowship.  If not, ask Him to step into the crevices and cracks and have Him supply ALL you needs, including to give Him your ALL, today. Your life will be fully blessed and enriched if you do.

“Jesus Christ is not valued at all until He is valued above all.”--Augustine

“The Lord’s everything is worthy of our everything.”—Tullian Tchividjian