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Verse:“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” —Mark 12:30, NKJV
Jesus spoke the words recorded in Mark 12:30 to the scribe who had asked Him which was the first commandment. Jesus’ response is an expanded version of Moses’ words found in Deuteronomy 6:5. In expressing those words, Jesus gave a holistic approach to religion. To love God with the whole heart focuses on the emotional aspect of our lives. We feel more deeply with our hearts because our emotional expressions are rooted there. The soul addresses the spiritual dimension.
While we emote through our hearts, we experience that spiritual transformation through our souls. The mind accommodates the intellectual facet of our lives.
We may love with our hearts, but we need the involvement of the other parts of our lives to really love fully. Finally, strength is the physical aspect.
It reminds us that we are God’s creation. When we love God as Jesus requests, with all our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength, we will be fully surrendered to Him. Fully surrendering our lives to God means that we love Him so much —emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, and physically— that we are willing to give Him everything, our all. When we love Jesus with our whole being, He will teach us how to truly love, and we will love others as we love ourselves. The first year that I did not make any New Year’s resolutions was 2021. It wasn’t because I had grown cynical or discouraged by my failure to follow through with past resolutions. It was simply because I did not need New Year’s resolutions to improve my life or my relationships. During my Bible study in 2020, I revisited those words of Jesus, and they made a very strong impression on me.
I also realized that if I want a closer relationship with my Savior, I need to surrender all to Him, and what better way to do so than to love Him with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength? I, therefore, resolved in the middle of 2020 that I would love God holistically. My daily prayer, as a result, is to love God with my whole heart, my soul, my mind, and my strength. It’s a work in progress, and as the Holy Spirit guides me, I realize that I not only love the Lord, my God, but I love my neighbor as well.
Valerie Knowles Combie