“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” -- Matthew 22:37
In previous blog we read about how people in the Old Testament had many wives and hence divided affections, divided households, divided peace.
But if we’re honest, we do the same thing today… only differently.
We may not have multiple spouses,
but we often have multiple loves.
Comfort. Success. Screens. Security. Approval.
One heart, but pulled in a hundred directions.
And in the quiet, God still whispers the same truth He spoke long ago:
“You must love Me with all your heart.”
ЁЯТФ When Our Hearts Have Many Loves
Polygamy in the ancient world was physical; ours is spiritual.
We say we love God; and we do
but we also love being liked,
being comfortable,
being in control.
And those loves compete.
Just as Solomon’s many wives “turned away his heart after other gods” (1 Kings 11:4), our many attachments pull us away from the simplicity of loving God first.
It’s rarely dramatic.
It’s subtle like the slow drift of a distracted soul.
We still pray, but half-heartedly.
We still serve, but check our phones.
We still say “Thy will be done,”
but secretly hope ours wins out.
ЁЯМ┐ God Doesn’t Want Half of You
God isn’t possessive but He doesn’t want a portion of your heart; He wants your whole self, because only then can He fill you fully.
St. Augustine once prayed,
“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”
Restlessness is often the sound of a heart divided.
God doesn’t shame us for it but He invites us to reorder our loves.
He knows how easily we attach to things that fade.
He gently reminds us:
“You cannot serve God and mammon.” --Matthew 6:24
Not because He’s harsh, but because He knows divided love will always leave us empty.
ЁЯМд️ The Call Back to Simplicity
Loving God with all our heart isn’t about emotion; it’s about direction.
It’s the steady turning toward Him, again and again, even when the world tugs in every direction.
It means putting prayer before scrolling.
Putting mercy before pride.
Putting obedience before convenience.
And when we fail - because we will - He doesn’t condemn. He calls us home.
Like He did with Solomon, like He did with Peter,
He reminds us that our hearts are made for undivided love.
✨ Reflection
What are the “many loves” competing for your heart?
Which of them quietly steals time, peace, or joy that belongs to God?
Sometimes the hardest idols to let go of aren’t bad things but they’re good things we’ve loved too much.
The cure is not guilt, but grace and the slow realignment of love toward its true center - Christ
ЁЯЩП Prayer
Lord,
You deserve my undivided heart,
yet I confess that I have many loves.
Things, people, habits, and comforts
that quietly sit where You should reign.
Teach me to love You above all else —
not because You demand it,
but because only in You am I whole.
Heal my divided heart
and make it one again in Your love.
Amen.
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