Mark 12:30~ Love is Tough Work!

Was thinking about the theme for CCF this year... it's taken from the verse in Mark 12:30






"Love the Lord your God with all your Heart and all your Soul and with all your Mind and with all your Strength."

I've heard of this verse so many times before, but it seems rather refreshing this time. I've never really asked why it would be these particular four aspects: Heart, the Soul, the Mind and the Strength. This time, I questioned, Why these four specific words ? Why this Order ?

1. To Love the Lord your God with All your Heart
I was thinking what it meant to Love with the Heart. For both guys and girls, this means to love with every "organ" of existence..the heart being one of them...haha". As a woman, I notice that in general, our gender tends to act and view loving someone pretty differently than guys. For us, there are a LOT of feelings and emotions tied to the heart. Our brains are filled with overthought and overanalyzed situations/words/scenarios/things. In a human relationship, there is always that factor of risk in giving our hearts completely to another person. There's the risk of being vulnerable and the risk of getting hurt. With God, there's also a risk on our part to Love with all our hearts. Yet, the best part about THIS relationship is that our risk is always minimized due to his unfailing Love for us. I don't have to be afraid of being vulnerable to Him, nor do I have to be afraid of getting hurt. What assurance!

2. To Love the Lord your God with All your Soul
I was thinking of what has and doesn't have souls. Plants don't have souls nor do animals; that's what sets humans apart from all other living things. One part of loving the Lord with the Soul is to allow his Holy Spirit to move and touch us. The soul is the battle ground between God and the Devil. It is the decision maker that determines where the final destination of an individual will be. Unlike the fickle heart (which sometimes cannot decide whether we like/dislike or love/hate something)... there is no inbetween nor middle ground for the soul. So, loving the Lord with our Souls means all or nothing..

3. To Love the Lord your God with All your Minds
What can the mind be filled with ? Mannnnyyyyy things....things that can be beneficial or things that can distract. To give ALL of the mind to Love the Lord means taking hold of EVERY thought that passes through the brain. A lot of things can affect what the mind absorbs, what we see through our eyes, what we feel and experience in our hearts, what we touch, hear and even smell. For me, this has GOT to be one of the tough ones...

4. To Love the Lord your God with All your Strength
God saves the best for last...there's hope yet =) Strength can be physical strength or mental strength. Physical strength constitutes being physically healthy and fit. Likwise, mental strength takes just as much discipline. Strength can mean different things to different people. For some, it may mean to perservere in hard times. For others, it may mean to prepare themselves for upcoming hard times. Either way, the good thing is that all God asks is that we try or put our best effort to Love Him =) He's Understanding, isn't He?

So....The passage taught me that to Love Him means that these things should be treated with care:
1. Emotions/Feelings (Heart)
2. The Soul and the Spirit (Soul)
3. Knowledge and Information / Wisdom and Intelligence (Mind)
4. Effort in maintaining Physical and Mental Health (Strength)

Wow! It's definitely gonna be a big challenge...lots of work! But one step at a time =)


Blessings,
-v

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The picture was taken in ottawa last week... we were walking in the market, and I saw this butterfly land on a rack of beady necklaces. It was an "of the moment" type of thing :)