"Practically Divine"

I have LOVED spending a week on God's beautiful grace. We could have made grace the topic of our whole summer and still not reached a full understanding of this infinite gift. I am eternally gratefully that God chose to bind us to Himself through Jesus.

Mark 12 begins with Jesus still teaching in the Temple. Remember, chapter 11 ended with His authority being questioned by the chief priests and scribes. A new chapter is beginning, but the setting and characters haven't changed.

Read Mark 12: 1-12. We won't spend a lot of time talking about this section of scripture. But, as you read, consider the details carefully. Jesus was very specific, and I believe everyone listening got the point. At the end of the parable, "they tried to arrest him." The only thing that stopped them was the multitude of people still follow Jesus and believing. We know that will soon change.

Now, read Mark 12:28-34.

These are familiar verses, ladies. I hope you didn't rush through them. If you did, go back and read again before going any further.

We skipped verses 12 through 27. In those verses, Jesus was questioned more. He was asked about man's resurrection and paying taxes. Everyone listened intently, but some listened just to argue further. One particular scribe then asked the famous question, "Which commandment is the first of all?"

Remember, the Jews followed over 600 laws that were written or spoken to more specifically enforce the 10 commandments. To them, every one of these laws were important. At that time, following these laws was their only way and hope of salvation. I believe this scribe thought he would certainly trap Jesus if he could persuade Him to highlight and one law over another.

We know what he didn't know.... You can't trap Jesus! Quickly He answered,

"The first is this, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (29-31)

I've been thinking a lot about these verses lately. The first commandment is to love God with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. As I've reflected, I believe there is a point to the order in which Jesus listed these parts of us.

Our heart is the place where we first come to know Jesus. Our hearts believe there is a God first because of the presence of Jesus and the work of His Spirit. Next, we love Jesus with our soul, and it seems this can be the trickiest piece. Our soul is the very center of who we are. It's the place where our spiritual selves meet the brokenness of this fallen world. Inside our souls, we carry the beauty and the trauma of life on earth. In my own life, I've failed to love God with all of my soul, because there is a depth to my soul that I don't always want to address.

I don't want to get too deep in my thoughts here for the sake of time. But, I think it's important to pause and notice that Jesus commanded us to love Him with all our soul second in this list. If it's second on purpose, then the next two (mind and strength) can't happen if we don't spend adequate time on our souls.

I probably don't have to tell any one of you that this world has caused damage to our souls. Abuse, addiction, brokenness, and normal disappointments caused by the fallen nature of man have caused damage to our souls. Most of us try to shove all of that away, speak some Scripture over those places, and move on with good deeds and works. It's no fun to focus on the places that we've been hurt OR the places where we've hurt others. Yet, Jesus said that we must love Him with all of our souls. He prioritized it!

Today, can you allow yourself to pause and think about broken and hurting places in your soul for the purpose of asking Jesus what to do with them? I won't give you any more guiding than that. When you pause to consider your soul, what sorrow, anger, fear, or even gladness surfaces? Sit with Jesus and ask Him what He'd like to show you in that.

Tomorrow, I'm going to offer a podcast that my therapy lovers with enjoy and others may find too deep and feely. I just believe it gets to the issues that keep us from loving God with our whole soul. And, loving Him with our whole souls appears to be very important.

Next, we love God with our mind and with our strength. We are loving Him with our mind here in our reading and study time. Memorizing Scripture is another way we love Him with our minds. Finally, our strength represents our physical body. This includes our acts of service, evangelism, and the way we actively love others in action.

The temptation is to flip the priority. I tend to want to go straight to the physical and love God with all my strength. That's a tangible and external way to demonstrate my love for Him and it appears to be the most important. In His list, though, it's not. When we get these out of order, our lives can start to feel upside down, because they are. We can't outwardly love with our strength until our inner parts are healed, cared for, and completely devoted to the Savior of our souls.

We can't love our neighbors as ourselves until we've given Him time to teach us how to fully love ourselves. That's not selfish, prideful, or immature. The Kingdom of God includes us as individuals, and we must learn how to love ourselves fully before we can correctly love others. We just can't skip steps, girls. It never works out longterm.

I'm praying God gives specific direction for each of us as individuals during our prayer time this morning. If you feel led, go on to finish Mark 12.

God, thank you very much for prioritizing ME in the kingdom of God. Thank you for giving me permission to focus on my past, my hurts, my brokenness, and my pain. Thank you for teaching me again today that it's not selfish, it's actually obedience. I just don't want to skip loving You with my soul, because it will lead to hurting others out of my own not dealt with hurt. We NEED whole and healthy believers in this world. Living the integrated life and allowing You to be Lord over heart, soul, mind, and strength is difficult work, but I want us to do it. We can't without Your specific guidance. Do it, Lord. Amen.