What It Means to "Love" God (With All Your Heart, Soul and Strength)

What It Means to "Love" God (With All Your Heart, Soul and Strength)

Let’s talk about love, Old Testament style! In this video, we’ll explore the various ways the Hebrew authors used the word “love,” and how they depicted God as the ultimate source and goal of all human love.

#Shema #BibleProject #Love

42 Comments

  1. @salopez1168 on July 21, 2025 at 11:43 pm

    Notice it doesn’t mention your brain, and only mention your heart. Why? Because I believe that when they say God, they are talking about your brain. Makes sense to me, but then what do I know?

  2. @LarryClarkthriving on July 21, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    Where does Chesed fall into this description? It seems the usage here overlaps.

  3. @salvationthroughgrace on July 21, 2025 at 11:46 pm

  4. @liantsang6758 on July 21, 2025 at 11:50 pm

    Is it then the Greek equivalent to agape?

  5. @hollowtamashi8722 on July 21, 2025 at 11:53 pm

    God: Love others, as I have loved you

    "Jews" of today: Except goyim right?

  6. @WiseLittleOwl on July 21, 2025 at 11:54 pm

    Love’s not just something God does, but it’s Who He is ❤️

  7. @Chitraelis88 on July 21, 2025 at 11:56 pm

    Love God,,love people ❤

  8. @kadceo on July 21, 2025 at 11:56 pm

    Glory to God

  9. @jaketane1717 on July 21, 2025 at 11:57 pm

    Thank you for this video

  10. @StewartKidGriffin on July 21, 2025 at 11:58 pm

    LOVE your project! Amazing, humane & comprehensive deep explanation of the narrative <3

  11. @lisabezenek7913 on July 21, 2025 at 11:58 pm

    Thank you for your wonderful studies

  12. @jemimaoduwaiye on July 21, 2025 at 11:59 pm

    Thank you Bible Project. There will be many in heaven because of this great work you’re doing. God bless you tremendously ❤

  13. @gracemalone-xo2iu on July 22, 2025 at 12:04 am

    Jesus saves

  14. @LehakoeRamaili on July 22, 2025 at 12:04 am

    I want to learn to ahava without expecting anything in return

  15. @nickscheidt9986 on July 22, 2025 at 12:05 am

    Jesus loves you

  16. @emmanuelbeauport1966 on July 22, 2025 at 12:09 am

    GOD bless you guys

  17. @SecretPlaceChallenge on July 22, 2025 at 12:11 am

    I believe. Monday I’m expecting a transformation

  18. @RudydeGroot on July 22, 2025 at 12:11 am

    This is one of the reasons I left Christianity. It does not read: Love the Eternal one with all your ‘strength’. (And worse: most of the translations even read: _mind_ …) So Christians are taught to love God with their strength and with their mind. Isn’t that crazy? It was only after finding out the source Hebrew, I understood. It reads: _me’odachoa_ which means something like: "with _all you possessions_ ". From Hebrew _me’od_ , many. So literally: with all your "many’s", with all your means.

    So this is proof that Christians _made a mistake in translating_ . The Hebrew word for ‘[from/out of] your mind’ is _medoa’echoa_ and the Hebrew word for ‘[from/out of] your possessions’ is _me’odechoa_ . (The Hebrew prefix ‘m’ means from/out of.)

    It really _doesn’t make sense_ to love God with all your strength, might or mind. As if you can love God with your willpower and with your mind. As if God is fathomable… It *_does_* make sense however, to love God with all your possessions, for after all, these were given to you to sustain you and like _Ijov_ (Job) can also be taken away from you. So loving God with all your _me’odechoa_ means to thank God for His loving-kindness to sustain you. Loving God with all your heart means to heed God using both your inclinations. (Using your good inclination to overcome your egocentric inclination.) And to love God with all your soul means to never give up the absolute trust in God, even if that means that it will cost you your life. You can also interpret that in the way that God entrusted you with a pure, living _neshomme_ (soul) that is yearning to become one with Him. Only through this inner tool, it’s possible to become like Him. This yearning, this clinging, this love is what people should strive for. To love God (and no one else!) for the sole purpose to altruistically love others like He loves us.

  19. @merrynasiregar on July 22, 2025 at 12:13 am

    But loving God is not limited with loving other people. People forget that it is also meaning to love yourself. U look at the mirror and start looking your flaws, feeling ugly etc this hurts God the creator because He loves you, why you hate yourself n want to "fix" something. Loving God also means you do not protest His plan that does not look like what u want, do not complain with your work, etc etc.

  20. @MosesGrace-f8e on July 22, 2025 at 12:14 am

    "LOVING GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART and LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF" both mean OBEYING THE LAW OF MOSES, the Law that modern Christianity rejects!

  21. @Laura-hv6yc on July 22, 2025 at 12:14 am

    “God’s love has no end because it has no beginning.”

    This sentence really just left me speechless.

  22. @lauraontiveros3432 on July 22, 2025 at 12:17 am

    The Bible has two scriptures that explains Gods love and believe not like men love.

  23. @donneduplessis2851 on July 22, 2025 at 12:22 am

    I disagree that love is a feeling. It is a choice and devotion. Feelings are fleeting. Love is a set of actions, devotion and a choice.

  24. @bibleproject on July 22, 2025 at 12:25 am

    BibleProject creates free resources to help you experience the Bible. Everything we make is funded by generous supporters around the world. You can see our entire video library, check out our other resources, and give at bibleproject.com.

  25. @alexisgonzalez8224 on July 22, 2025 at 12:27 am

    Amen

  26. @JacobPaulGordon on July 22, 2025 at 12:27 am

    Very hard right now, not going to explain why…

  27. @nameless-yd6ko on July 22, 2025 at 12:27 am

    What It Means to "Love" God
    ~~~ Mystically, Karma is the momentary (local) reflection of the Absolute Perfection/Balance of the One (ALL-inclusive) Universe (aka ‘God’, Consciousness/Mind, etc…)!
    Whatever the moment brings is in perfect accord with the Universe/God, whether comfortable or not.
    Just accept the moment’s Karma with Gratitude!
    Acceptance is unconditional Love and Karma is ‘God/Universe, etc…’.
    To accept Karma is to accept ‘God’, to become One with!

    With emphasis; "What a man loves, he is. If he loves a stone he is that stone, if he loves a person he is that person, if he loves God – nay, I durst not say more; were I to say, he is God, he might stone me. I do but teach you the scriptures." – Meister Eckhart

  28. @BLAISEDAHL96 on July 22, 2025 at 12:27 am

    Amen

  29. @FNcallzz on July 22, 2025 at 12:29 am

    thank you

  30. @kennethcajefe4371 on July 22, 2025 at 12:30 am

    AHAVAH!

  31. @nameit137 on July 22, 2025 at 12:30 am

    Ahavah
    God to his own people
    People to their king
    Jonatahan to david
    യജമാനൻ to ദാസൻ
    Husband to wife
    Parent to child
    Emperor to king
    Shepherd to lamp/sheeps
    Teacher to student
    Rich to poor
    വൈദ്യൻ to രോഗി
    Emmigrant to immigrant(സ്വദേശി to പരദേശി)
    Ourselves to neighbour

    Love = feeling+action

    Do this to love jesus :
    Fear
    Walk
    Serve
    Keep

  32. @ElbraSorkhan on July 22, 2025 at 12:31 am

    Thank you so much for this, you all are blessings from God, this helps so much!

  33. @sisy57 on July 22, 2025 at 12:31 am

    I like how you keep your explanations and stories simple . I do study the Bible but sometimes I over think and don’t get the whole understanding of my study. You guys let my mind rest and achieve the understanding I need. Your presentation are so enjoyable. God bless

  34. @ButteBoysATV on July 22, 2025 at 12:32 am

    I’ve really struggled to love GOD, because I don’t really know what He is like. I’ve heard that those who believe in Jesus will love Him, but my heart has been plagued by doubts, and I find it hard to love anybody. What should I do?

  35. @jimbowling8528 on July 22, 2025 at 12:35 am

    Faith: belief that, whatever God says, is right. Hope: desire for whatever God says, because we believe that whatever God says, is right. Love: doing whatever God says, because we desire whatever God says, because we believe that whatever God says, is right. And the greatest of these is Love.

  36. @incognitoriaanonymousita on July 22, 2025 at 12:35 am

    Amen 6.7.2025

  37. @carolinastrailhead on July 22, 2025 at 12:35 am

    I Ahavah The Bible Project for bringing me God’s message and helping me understand the Bible.

  38. @samuelgodis6902 on July 22, 2025 at 12:36 am

    Ahavah ❤

  39. @dragoflare1592 on July 22, 2025 at 12:36 am

    Love the animation, praise God!

  40. @CorneluisGeyer on July 22, 2025 at 12:37 am

    Recently, I’ve been deeply convicted by God’s presence and love. If anyone out there needs reassurance that He hasn’t left us—or if there’s something in your walk with Him you’re struggling with—please feel free to reach out. I don’t have all the answers, but I’ll listen, pray, and walk with you. You’re not alone

    I’ve felt the weight of something holy pressing on my heart—a quiet, unmistakable pull to speak. If you need reassurance that God hasn’t turned His face away, or if you’re wrestling with something in the silence. I invite all who are willing to argue and to debate, for these are signs of an heart longing for the divine

    I used to fear the end times—until I realized: every second God waits, He’s screaming ‘I LOVE YOU!’ to someone drowning in darkness. He’s not slow. He’s PATIENT. For YOU. Don’t let this holy pause pass.

    Your shorts make me think of an hourglass I wrote about—sand slipping through while God waits for the LAST soul who’ll say ‘yes’ to Him (2 Peter 3:9). What if that ‘yes’ is YOU? To all not just an specific person but those who crave the release of the world, not escapism but acceptance in divine protection

    I wrote about sin as a knotted yarn ball—God’s untangling souls right now before the final cut (Rev 7:3). Your voice is the SCISSORS in God’s hand—cutting knots so souls can BREATHE

    I am an writer who got rejected for years now and i turned to god and asked simply if that nobody wants my work that i can write for him and i”ve just been struck with thougts the past few months and ive watched from the sidelnes but i dont think i can stay quiet too longer

    If anyone is intrested on what i wrote feel free to ask im MORE than willing to share to all who wil listen . i cant explain but i understand, feel and just know what to say to every single possibility.

    its like an food craving and an itch that cant be reached, i know its overwhelming but hear me out and ask , thats all im asking

    basically i had 5 bread crumbs i used to do my research and studying. I believe da vinci and nikola tesla were the smartest to live, from da vinci i knew everything had an smaller part to play in an bigger picture and that everything has an analogy including the universe and everything in between. From tesla i learned everything worked on vibrations and frequenices and that everything had to connect back to god and that everything had atleast one connection or an universal trait, no matter space, the world or even the abyss, there had to be something in there that is in an living creature or etc

    My anaolyg that connections everything and all is weighing scales, everything has to have an counterbalance or opposite force in order for the other to make sense. But of course people want emperical truth, where is god? how does he look like, well i tell you my friends that the one universal thing that binds us is quarks, quarks alone mirror the holy trinity design. Now you know, tell as many people as possible, god is the were strings that hold everything together , he is in me and in you, and on that note even in our most isolated moments we feel in life, god was there and no less than an arm;s reach away from us, and that if we hold out our hand out into the empty space before us god holds it without us knowning

    I make no special claims about myself—I’m not a prophet, theologian, or scholar. I’m simply a believer compelled to share what God has burned on my heart. Test these words against Scripture (Acts 17:11). If they resonate with His Truth, spread this message far and wide. God is real. He is here. And He’s calling out in patient love to every heart drowning in darkness

    "In Him all things hold together."
    —Colossians 1:17

    "He has set eternity in the human heart."
    —Ecclesiastes 3:11

    "In Him we live and move and have our being."
    —Acts 17:28

    "The Lord is patient, not wishing any to perish."
    —2 Peter 3:9

    "He upholds the universe by the word of His power."
    —Hebrews 1:3

    "If you do not warn them, their blood I will require at your hand."
    —Ezekiel 3:18

    Where can I flee from Your presence? If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there."
    —Psalm 139:7-8

  41. @fifizeal5691 on July 22, 2025 at 12:40 am

    THANK YOU SO MUCH! I have just begun to understand more about God

  42. @colbylawson5131 on July 22, 2025 at 12:40 am

    Thank you Lord for loving me so profoundly

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