Anyone knows how this one ends?
Luke 10:27: …all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.In Luke, an expert of the Jewish law answers his own question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He actually wanted Jesus to answer him, but Jesus allows him to show his expertise in the law to set up an important lesson. He states that there are two commandments:
1.) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.
2.) Love your neighbor as yourself.
Both come from the Deuteronomic law (the law Moses laid down WAAAAAYYY back). He actually is quoting the scripture in Deuteronomy 6:5 to answer this question. Jesus gives him the recognition he wanted by telling him he was correct but the guy just has to press the issue. In the next verse (29), the “expert” wants to justify himself further, so he asks, “who’s my neighbor?”
Seriously?
The expert in the law, the guy who’s studied everything that has to do with the Jewish faith, doesn’t know who his neighbor is? This intelligent man can recite from memory the exact statutes and sections of the law on command but doesn’t know how to look at the people around him? He needs Jesus to tell him a story in order for him to understand that anyone and everyone is your neighbor?
I’m not trying to re-teach the lesson Jesus taught (The Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37) but rather the underlying issue that faced the “lawyer.” And I think that if he had spent applying what he learned from the law rather than just what it said, he might not have asked such a simple question. It goes back to the first commandment: Love your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.
Now, I can’t deny he was using his mind. He had the law down cold and could apply it to the question Jesus put back on him. But, I think the complete lack of connection between the law and what it meant showed he used very little else. If I had been in Jesus place (thankfully I wasn’t), I would have said, “go back to step 1 and see if you can figure it out from there.”
I think the lack of using all four of these aspects, when applied to our faith, causes us to make statements, perform actions, and lay judgment that is intended to be from a faithful place but horribly misguided.
A controversial moral subject came on the radio this week and everyone with an ounce of Biblical knowledge had their opinion based on the Bible.
“This is right because Romans blah blah blah…”
“The Bible says this so blah blah blah…”
Both sides could easily rattle off the verse and chapter but couldn’t see the bigger picture: how does this affect your neighbor? They all could draw the battle lines but couldn’t see the people who it affected, on either side. In the end, neither side budged, the DJ’s were exhausted, and more embittered Christians entrenched themselves in their belief. Does this sound like the faith Jesus agreed with in Luke? Does this sound like loving God with all your heart, strength, soul, and mind?
When we use our mind to justify our position without taking into account the heart of the matter, when we passionately put hours of our strength into something without resting and recuperating our soul, when we neglect the whole in favor of just part, we do not faithfully love God.
It is only when in harmony of these four aspects do we fully experience the faith of Jesus in our lives. When we balance what we feel, do, internalize, and think do we live the life God created us to live.
I beg that the next time a matter of faith comes up that you take the time to consider what the heart, the soul, the body, and the mind are telling you. Don’t simply take the verse from the Bible, don’t simply jump into the debate, don’t simply act, and don’t ignore that voice that tells you otherwise.
Love God with your whole self and show that same love to all that surround you.
