“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 consider this the goal of the life of faith, to love God fully, without reservation, with all of our being.
This 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? Taking a walk the other day, I found myself praying, “Jesus, I love you,” and then wondering what I meant by that, how much need and anxiety is wrapped in that statement? Loving God presupposes a relationship. I consider this the richest promise of the Christian life, that Jesus has enabled true relationship with the Living God. In Ephesians we read that through Christ we “have access to the Father in one Spirit.” (Eph 2:18) So I ask, am I fully engaged in that relationship, or dipping in occasionally from the sidelines? How about you?
I am not a scholar of ancient languages, and don’t know the nuances of the word translated here as “love.” The English language has a limited vocabulary for love – we use one word to cover an array of different kinds. The Greeks used at least four. 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 child for her reconciling parent, of a broken one for his healer? It would seem 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 these three components, heart, soul and mind. In prayer today, come into a quiet, centered place, and speak simply and honestly to God about where you are with 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 some time on what’s in your heart. When I think about mine, I envision a mixed landscape of joy and fear and pockets of desolation. 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 a picture 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?
What might it feel like to love with all the fullness of your being, no separation, no shadow? I confess it scarcely seems possible in this world. But I do know that the more we love God this way, the better we will be able to love ourselves – and others.
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? Taking a walk the other day, I found myself praying, “Jesus, I love you,” and then wondering what I meant by that, how much need and anxiety is wrapped in that statement? Loving God presupposes a relationship. I consider this the richest promise of the Christian life, that Jesus has enabled true relationship with the Living God. In Ephesians we read that through Christ we “have access to the Father in one Spirit.” (Eph 2:18) So I ask, am I fully engaged in that relationship, or dipping in occasionally from the sidelines? How about you?
I am not a scholar of ancient languages, and don’t know the nuances of the word translated here as “love.” The English language has a limited vocabulary for love – we use one word to cover an array of different kinds. The Greeks used at least four. 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 child for her reconciling parent, of a broken one for his healer? It would seem 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 these three components, heart, soul and mind. In prayer today, come into a quiet, centered place, and speak simply and honestly to God about where you are with 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 some time on what’s in your heart. When I think about mine, I envision a mixed landscape of joy and fear and pockets of desolation. 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 a picture 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?
What might it feel like to love with all the fullness of your being, no separation, no shadow? I confess it scarcely seems possible in this world. But I do know that the more we love God this way, the better we will be able to love ourselves – and others.
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