10-21-14 - Commanded to Love

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 
 So reads what Jesus calls the first and greatest commandment. We might call this the goal of the life of faith, to love God fully, without reservation, with all of our being.

Which kicks up all kinds of questions in me: Do I love anyone or anything with all of my heart? Do you?
In an age when our attentions are ever more fragmented, what would it feel like to focus all our heart, all our spirit, even all our mind on one thing, one person, one God?

Do I even love God at all? To think of loving God presupposes a relationship. I believe that is the richest promise of the Christian life, that Jesus has made possible true relationship with the Living God. So I ask, am I engaged in that relationship, or looking on from the sidelines? Are you?

And under these questions lurks an even deeper one: Can one be commanded to love in the first place? Isn’t love by its very nature spontaneous and freely given?

I am not a Hebrew scholar, and don’t know the nuances of the word translated here as “love.” The English language is limited in its vocabulary for love – we use one word to cover an array of different kinds of love. The Greeks used at least four, and I don’t know about the ancient Hebrews. I suspect this word contains shades of reverence and awe, even fear, and not simply “love” the way we think of loving our parents or children or lovers or friends. How do we name the love of a creature for its creator, of an estranged orphan for its reconciling parent, of a broken one for his healer? It would seem to me that, to fully love God, we must first fully recognize our need for God's unconditional love for us.

How do we begin? How about with the three components spelled out, heart, soul and mind. In prayer today, let’s come into a quiet, centered place, and speak simply and honestly to God about where we are in relation to loving God. Good relationships are based on honesty and authenticity. We don’t have to pretend to feel more than we do, or less.

Assuming we want to love God more fully, let’s offer our heart – and spend a little time on what’s in your heart. Whenever I think about mine, I envision a messy, cluttered place. What do you see? Can you offer it to God in love, no matter what it looks like?

Then let’s offer our soul, perhaps asking the Holy Spirit to give us an image of our soul. What do you see or discern? Can you offer your spirit to be infused with the Holy Spirit?

Then let’s offer our minds… perhaps even more cluttered than our hearts. What would it feel like to focus your mind on loving God, even for a few moments? I believe God is delighted even with our desire to do so.

What might it feel like to love with all the fullness of our being, no separation, no shadow? I confess it scarcely seems possible to me, in this world. Might it become our aspiration, to love God this way? I suspect that if we can, we’ll be better able to love ourselves – and others.

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