The Holy One calls to me this morning. Love for my Lord is the first conscious thought of the day. And the Holy Spirit picks it up from there. "Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind".
This is a continuation of a conversation that began yesterday as I was pondering the Lord's words regarding the 2 greatest commands. In Matt 22:37, Jesus said this: "Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest command and the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the laws and the prophets hang on these two commandments".
These are the words very familiar to the body of Christ and we know they are the basics for those of us who believe in Jesus as the Savior and Lord of our lives. But today as I meditate on these verses, I notice something I never really thought about before and I am prompted to ask. "What is mind love"?
To love the Lord with all our "heart" and even our "soul" is relational as we always assume love is a feeling; an emotional response to someone. But how are we to love the Lord with all our mind?
I think about the intellectual crowd who can never quite wrap their brain around the truth of our Creator and settle for things like the "theory of evolution" or the religion of atheism.
I have found through study of the Word of God answers to those deep questions about the origin of life and come to know delightful people who are scientifically geared or wired for logic who share my faith in the Creator God and His Son, Jesus the Christ.
Through the word and knowing these people who have what I consider to be great minds, I know that the Lord doe not want or need for us to check our brains at the door when we enter a church for encouragement or instruction.
To all those who judge our faith as emotional and think we are helpless romantics at best or the stupid, ignorant mindless followers of a myth at the worst, Jesus sets the standard and commands the opposite. He said we are to love the Lord our God with all our mind as well as all our heart and soul.
The mind is our place of reason, our place of will, and our place of decision making. We are not told to love the Lord without our will and reason being involved. I have come to realize that love is a decision, not an emotion. Emotions factor into our love choices but true love is unconditional and that involves a commitment to a choice and decision that is not whimsical or subject to change when people disappoint my expectations of them.
God's love for us is unconditional. Whether we throw bouquets or bricks at Him, Jesus in unconditional love gave up His life for all of us. He is our model in commitment and love as being a decision. Jesus left Heaven with that decision and commitment and no matter what it took, He was willing to make the sacrifice to love us to the very point of His death on a Cross.
The road to Calvary was lined with people of varying degrees of loyalty and betrayal, yet He walked it with thoughts ahead to the greater joy that was to come.
To love the Lord with all my mind is to choose to serve Him even when it is hard or inconvenient. To love the Lord with all my mind is to be thoughtful about every decision and how it will impact our Sacred Romance and His glory on earth. To love the Lord with all my mind is to grow in the knowledge of Him and trust in the knowledge He provides.
There is no subject that can be studied that doesn't come back to a logical Creator. All the scientific principles relate back to the Divine Creator who set them in motion. All the incredible inventions and advances in our world would not be possible without human minds provided by our incredible Creator God.
We humans are the crowing glory of a Majestic Sovereign Creator and He wants to share life in all it's wonder and mystery with His Beloved Creation..AKA us.
To love the Lord with all my mind is the call to outrageous thinking, creating, learning and growing, not by myself alone, but with the One who made everything for my good pleasure after He made me for His.
The Spirit is calling. can you hear Him?
This is a continuation of a conversation that began yesterday as I was pondering the Lord's words regarding the 2 greatest commands. In Matt 22:37, Jesus said this: "Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest command and the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the laws and the prophets hang on these two commandments".
These are the words very familiar to the body of Christ and we know they are the basics for those of us who believe in Jesus as the Savior and Lord of our lives. But today as I meditate on these verses, I notice something I never really thought about before and I am prompted to ask. "What is mind love"?
To love the Lord with all our "heart" and even our "soul" is relational as we always assume love is a feeling; an emotional response to someone. But how are we to love the Lord with all our mind?
I think about the intellectual crowd who can never quite wrap their brain around the truth of our Creator and settle for things like the "theory of evolution" or the religion of atheism.
I have found through study of the Word of God answers to those deep questions about the origin of life and come to know delightful people who are scientifically geared or wired for logic who share my faith in the Creator God and His Son, Jesus the Christ.
Through the word and knowing these people who have what I consider to be great minds, I know that the Lord doe not want or need for us to check our brains at the door when we enter a church for encouragement or instruction.
To all those who judge our faith as emotional and think we are helpless romantics at best or the stupid, ignorant mindless followers of a myth at the worst, Jesus sets the standard and commands the opposite. He said we are to love the Lord our God with all our mind as well as all our heart and soul.
The mind is our place of reason, our place of will, and our place of decision making. We are not told to love the Lord without our will and reason being involved. I have come to realize that love is a decision, not an emotion. Emotions factor into our love choices but true love is unconditional and that involves a commitment to a choice and decision that is not whimsical or subject to change when people disappoint my expectations of them.
God's love for us is unconditional. Whether we throw bouquets or bricks at Him, Jesus in unconditional love gave up His life for all of us. He is our model in commitment and love as being a decision. Jesus left Heaven with that decision and commitment and no matter what it took, He was willing to make the sacrifice to love us to the very point of His death on a Cross.
The road to Calvary was lined with people of varying degrees of loyalty and betrayal, yet He walked it with thoughts ahead to the greater joy that was to come.
To love the Lord with all my mind is to choose to serve Him even when it is hard or inconvenient. To love the Lord with all my mind is to be thoughtful about every decision and how it will impact our Sacred Romance and His glory on earth. To love the Lord with all my mind is to grow in the knowledge of Him and trust in the knowledge He provides.
There is no subject that can be studied that doesn't come back to a logical Creator. All the scientific principles relate back to the Divine Creator who set them in motion. All the incredible inventions and advances in our world would not be possible without human minds provided by our incredible Creator God.
We humans are the crowing glory of a Majestic Sovereign Creator and He wants to share life in all it's wonder and mystery with His Beloved Creation..AKA us.
To love the Lord with all my mind is the call to outrageous thinking, creating, learning and growing, not by myself alone, but with the One who made everything for my good pleasure after He made me for His.
The Spirit is calling. can you hear Him?
No comments:
Post a Comment