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Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength
Q. I need to get some answers on the question of the greatest
commandment, which is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul,
mind and strength. Can you please give me more feedback on the difference
between the heart and soul? How to love the Lord in these different areas?
and why are they separated to these 4 areas?
Response:
That's quite a question you have for yourself. Did You choose it or was it
assigned to you?
I'm going to answer the second part first.
The heart is the physical side
of our being and the soul is the spiritual side.
Ecclesiastes 12:7
"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was:
and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."
Here we have the physical (heart) returning to the
ground as dust and the spirit (soul) returning to God from where it
originally came to us. The soul is the real YOU. It resides out of the
mind and the heart and the physical strength. It is, in today's jargon,
the aura of you, The non material part of man's being; The immortal part,
that which survives after the death of the body, and the essence of the
human being.
An aside thought: The original text does not speak of the heart.... it
speaks of the bowels. In the language of that day, people considered the
feelings to reside in the deepest part of their being and, to them, that
place was the bowels. Today, we would never say "I love you with all my
bowels." However in that day that would have been a very acceptable
phrase.
Now to the most precious of statements.
Mark 12:30 "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:
this [is] the first commandment."
Which is repeated in:
Mark 12:33 "And to love him with all the heart, and with all the
understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to
love [his] neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings
and sacrifices."
And in:
Luke 10:27 "And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and
with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself."
My friend, note the slight variation in each. They never deviate from the
total concept of the truth but they include the need to relate our love of
God, today, to the way we have viewed Him in the past. In the first quote,
Mark 12:30 Jesus is giving the explanation to the very first Commandment
Exodus 20:2
I [am] the LORD thy God,
Exodus 20:3
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:4
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,
Exodus 20:7
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain;
Exodus 20:8
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. These Four verses 3,4,7,8
are the first and foremost importance in the 10 commandments because
they deal with how we should view God now.
To accomplish the task (no the joy) of keeping these commandments, we
must set our entire being to loving Our Lord God. Any of the four parts
mentioned left out is like taking the full armor of God to our being and
leaving off any one of the pieces. The devil has his inroad through the
chink in the armor. Leaving out one of the parts of the greatest
commandment is opening the door to all sorts of problems. Hands don't
tell the feet how to walk and the feet don't tell the hands how to fold
in prayer, but the Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength tell all the parts how
to bow in prayer and worship. Without the heart, prayer is mere mouthing.
Without the mind, prayer is simply rote. Without putting all your
strength into prayer it won't get to the Lord's ear. Without your soul
in prayer you can leave the other three parts out too.
I want to talk about the slight variations a moment.
Mark12:30 declares the fact of
relationship between the first four Commandments and this statement found
here. However, verse 33
goes further in that it delves
deeper into the meaning of our sacrifices (usually donations or support)
(and those begrudgingly), to a LOVE filled reason to offer ourselves to
Him. Now we come to the best of all. The
Luke 10:27 variation shows Man
in Love with his God. If we love anyone, we must first love ourselves.
That same love we have for God must be reflected in the love we show to
our neighbor.
I pray that this will be of benefit to you. If you are still in need
please write to me again. I will endeavor to answer further.
In His Love
Kenn
May you walk in the Spirit constantly; and
consistently be found giving glory and praise to your Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ.
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