We read the words of the Lord in Proverbs 23:26, “My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.”  The Lord here is addressing “my son”, so this shows He is speaking to one who is already His son.  He is speaking to a believer…and all believers.  The Lord wants us to give Him our hearts!  We might say that only love asks for love, so the One who loves us without measure desires that we love Him. 

The Lord instructs us in Matthew 22:37, “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”  The Lord does not desire us to love Him in a part-time or casual way.  He wants us to love Him with our entire being.

This does not mean that if we love the Lord and give Him our hearts that we will never sin.  As long as we live on the earth in the flesh, the propensity to sin will always be with us.  While we cannot live a sinless life, we can love the Lord with all we have in us.  After all, our love for Him is simply a response to His love for us. 1 John 4:19 tells us, “We love him, because he first loved us.”

I cannot speak knowledgeably about your dreams.  Perhaps you have read Proverbs 23:26 before and the Lord was bringing it back to your mind so that you might think more seriously about your love for Him.  Throughout the scriptures, we see that love is a commitment and determination.  The Lord even instructs us to “Love your enemies.” (Luke 6:27).  Surely if we can love those who are our enemies, we can love the One who is always on our side, who always watches over us, who always blesses us by fulfilling our needs.  We can surely love the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. (See Galatians 2:20). 

How does our love for the Lord manifest itself?

  • John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”  If we love Him, we will obey Him.
  • John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”  If we love Him, we will love one another.
  • Matthew 6:10, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”  If we love Him, we will put our desires aside and long for His will to be done.
  • Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”  If we love Him, we will guard our hearts from all things that will distract us from Him and His great love for us.

Love is not a feeling.  It is an act of your will.  Realizing how much the Lord loves you, you should determine to love Him with all your being.  As I stated above, this does not mean that we will never sin, but it does mean we will long to please Him.  The Lord said of King David, that he was “a man after mine own heart.” (Acts 13:22).  If you read much into David’s history, you will quickly see that he was a man who committed some terrible sins.  Yet, his heart always longed to obey God’s revealed will.  He was a man of prayer and godliness, in spite of his often failures. 

You worry that you cannot completely surrender your heart and will to the Lord.  Pray!  Ask the Lord to keep your heart close to His and seek His will and guidance in all you do.  Get to know Him better by reading your Bible every day.  The more you know about Him, the more you will love Him, and the more you will seek to honor Him with your life.  (CC)  (493.6)