Mark 12:30-31
These are the two greatest commandments - the things I should be dropping everything else for.
Jesus says we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The phrase is so familiar to most believers that we are in danger of just reciting it without thinking about what each area entails. We love God, of course. It's why we even bother at all. But loving in theory and loving in actuality are not the same.
God wants my heart. He doesn't want me to serve him from a motivation of guilt or a performance-based mentality. He wants me to want to serve Him. I have to check my motives carefully. Just as in any human relationship, being involved with your heart means that you care, you have feelings about what you're doing, you are enthusiastic. You can't be a passionate robot. Passion involves your emotions, not a programmed response.
God wants my soul. I had to look up exactly what is meant by soul here because the idea of "loving God with your soul" sounded very abstract to me. The soul is the very core of yourself. Who you are. Your identity. So loving with your soul involves your choices, your habits, your SELF. I would describe myself as a Christian, wife, mom, reader/writer, INFP. But somewhere in there, in fact the most crucial part, should be the fact that I love God. I need to think of myself as a God-lover before any of those other aspects.
God wants my mind. This one is the hardest one for me. My mind is all over the place, and I don't mean that as a compliment. I feel like loving God with my mind requires me to exercise self-control in a lot of my mental habits, and bring my own understanding about things into alignment with God's understanding. There are so many verses that talk about breaking down mental strongholds, thinking only on what is pure and lovely, setting one's mind on things above. I could go on and on.
God wants my strength. I usually think of myself as being pretty weak. I have emotional struggles more frequently than I would like. Sometimes my skin is too thin. But the whole point here is using my strength. Only God knows the true measure of what we are capable of. Sometimes it's strength enough just to hold on. Sometimes it's strength to grow and push through pain. The working out metaphor is used for this all the time, but it's true. You can't keep the strength you don't use. Using more than you are capable of makes you stronger. It's the tearing of muscle fibers that builds them back up. Seriously, insert the whole concept of The Biggest Loser here in a spiritual context.
I am to love my neighbor as myself. Note: this does say that I am supposed to love myself. In this passage, loving oneself is a given. A personal pet-peeve of mine is when anyone derides the concept of "self-esteem." Yes, I know it is constantly misused, but a proper, biblical understanding of it has also brought life and peace to many.
We are broken and flawed by nature, but in Christ we are chosen, accepted, pure, righteous - with our names inscribed on God's hands. We have value because he gives us value. Loving myself doesn't mean that I love myself with my heart, soul, mind, and strength because that is reserved for God. It does mean that I agree with God about my new identity and set healthy boundaries with myself and others.
Loving others as I love myself means that I think of others and think of how to care for them spiritually, emotionally, and physically just like I do for myself. Maybe some do have to go secure their own air mask before attempting to secure the air mask of others. But reaching out and loving is good for our souls. It takes the focus off of ourselves and helps us to truly be the body of Christ.
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