Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. - Matthew 22:37 NLT

When Jesus gives the greatest commandment, He uses two words we can’t ignore: agapaō (“love”) and kardía (“heart”).

We’ve seen before that agapaō isn’t about warm feelings—it’s about choosing God’s choices. And kardía in Scripture isn’t just emotions either. It’s your inner core—the place where desires, will, and decisions flow. Put together, loving God with all your heart means letting your deepest self actively choose His way above your own.

Here’s the tension: our hearts don’t naturally do that. Jeremiah 17:9 calls the heart “deceitful above all things.” Left on our own, we drift toward self-protection, self-interest, or self-pity. That’s why Christ’s role is so essential. Jesus is the only One who ever loved the Father with a fully undivided heart. In Gethsemane He prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42)—a perfect picture of wholehearted agapaō.

And He didn’t just model it; He makes it possible for us. By His death and resurrection, He gives us new hearts (Ezek. 36:26). Romans 5:5 says God’s love is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. That means when we love God, it’s not about straining harder—it’s about Christ reshaping our desires from the inside out.

This matters especially when your heart feels complicated. Trauma, anxiety, or grief can make desire feel fractured. Maybe you want to love God, but numbness or fear dulls your “yes.” Hear this: loving God with all your heart doesn’t mean loving Him perfectly—it means bringing Him your whole self, even the broken parts. And the Spirit can work with that. Every time you choose honesty over hiding, surrender over control, forgiveness over bitterness, you are practicing agapaō—choosing God’s choices.

So, loving God with all your heart isn’t about chasing an emotional high or keeping spiritual performance scores. It’s about a steady, Spirit-enabled posture of saying: “God, I choose You—even here, even now.”

Takeaway: To love God with all your heart is to join Jesus in saying, “Not my will, but Yours,” trusting Him to heal, redirect, and empower your desires through His Spirit.