Archive for July, 2025
The Great Command – Part Three
“Jesus said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Basically it means we should be all sold out for the Lord God. You are to love Him with – – –
All your “Heart.” This is a summary for the hub of your existence. The very core of your nature. The ancients lived in a day before medical science was well developed. They realized conscious thought came from the brain. They thought it resulted from the blood carrying thoughts through it. The heart was known to pump the blood. Therefore, they concluded that all thoughts originated in the heart. By using the word “heart” they were saying we are to love God at the very source of all conscious thought. It was a reference to our intellect. This gives greater importance to Proverbs 4:23, “Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
We are to love Him with all of our “soul,” which is a summary for your emotions.
It is said the human personality consists of one-fifth intellect and four-fifths emotions. That means our decisions are made on the basis of 20% intellect and 80% emotions. Therefore, if we are going to make the right choices we need Christ-controlled emotions.
When something happens most people respond emotionally and, consequently, reduce their capacity for rational thought.
Will James, Father of modern psychology in America, said, “In any project the one important factor is your belief. Without belief there can be no successful action. That is fundamental!”
You are to love God with all of your mind. The Old Testament passage uses “might,” whereas Jesus uses “mind.” Inherent in the Hebrew understanding of “might” was moving ahead energetically with forethought. As used here, it does not refer simply to your intellectual ability but to your disposition or attitude.
The point is we are to love God with “ALL” our facilities.
If we love Him as such, it will be evident. Love responds happily in obedience to the slightest wish of the beloved. The distinguishing mark of any believer is willing obedience to Christ. You don’t prove you are a Christian by saying you believe in God. You demonstrate the validity of your faith when as a result of your belief, you display a consuming love for Jesus.
Love for Jesus results from thoughts being transformed into our attitudes as well as our actions.
William Borden, heir to the Borden fortune, abandoned it and followed Jesus as a missionary wrote in his Bible on the day of his death, “No reserve. No retreat. No regrets.”
The Great Command – Part Two
The commandment Jesus exhorted His followers to obey is now referred to as the “Shema.” It contains three objects of our love. The first is, “Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19: 18 and weaving them together formed a binding cord of love. “Jesus said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Anchor in the safe harbor of your mind that there is “one God.” The concept of the Trinity is illustrated by one bunch of grapes consisting of many grapes. So God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one unit consisting of three entities.
He is to be loved with the totality of our being: our heart, soul, and bodily strength. They were given a visual aid for their era to remind them of this. They were to write the Shema on pieces of paper and put them in a little leather pouch called a phylactery. One was to be strapped to the forehead reminding them to use their mind in the loving obedience to God. One was to be strapped to their wrist as a reminder to use their strength, their body, in acts of loving obedience. They were to make evidence of this truth in their home by putting it on their door. If a person were to enter your home what physical evidence would there be of your faith?
The text says we are to love God. It doesn’t say we are to have good feelings about Him. Where there is true love there is service and obedience.
The Hebrew word used in Deuteronomy was “aheb,” which refers to the highest kind of love. It motivates a person to do what is right and noble no matter what their feelings might be. It is akin to “agape” in the New Testament.
William Penn, founder of the state of Pennsylvania stated, “Right is right though all be against it, and wrong is wrong though all be for it.” This is a command. It is in the imperative mood; meaning, “do it.”
It is the “great commandment,” not the “greatest.” It is beyond comparison. It stands alone.
We are to love Him as an athlete loves his teammates.
We are to love Him as a soldier loves his country.
We are to love Him as a child loves his or her pet.
We are to love Him as a drowning man loves the shore.
This is our duty, but a virtue isn’t safe until it is transferred from a duty to a desire.
This is a command, not just an ideal. It has the compulsion of what God delivered to Moses on Sinai. It is a revolutionary idea.
We are to love Him “AS our God.” This means He should be the one receiving our maximum devotion, our ultimate adoration, our supreme obedience, our full allegiance. He is our God.
Loving Him isn’t so difficult in light of the fact “God loved us and sent His son…”
The Great Command – Part One
Matthew 22: 34 – 40
Jesus has an opinion of you. You have an opinion of Him, everyone does.
His opinion of you is made clear in Scripture. He loves you.
What is your opinion of Him? In light of His opinion of you perhaps you need to re-evaluate your opinion of Him. Though He will always have a higher opinion of us than we have of Him, perhaps we need to elevate our opinion of Him.
He has always had His detractors. One such religious group of His day was called Pharisees. They constantly tried to trick and trap Him. He didn’t fit their mold. They wanted to dispute His teachings and refute His title.
One day these Pharisees watched with delight as Christ engaged in a verbal battle with their counterparts, the Sadducees. They were delighted when Christ “muzzled” the Sadducees.
Now this was their moment. If they could snare Christ in a verbal trap, not only would they be one up on Him; but this would be a big put-down to the Sadducees.
They asked Him what was “the great commandment?” The scribes who maintained and taught the law said there were 613 moral laws; 248 were positive and 365 negative. They chose this number because there were 613 letters in the words comprising the Ten Commandments. This system was known as “rabbinical lettrism.” Almost every law had its advocates. People had selected their favorites and measured others by what they understood their pet law to mean. Therefore, no matter which one Jesus would choose there would be many who would disagree. This was a question which they thought had no right answer.
Jesus reached back into the Old Testament records and pulled out Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19: 18 and weaving them together formed a binding cord of love. “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39).
The passage from Deuteronomy is the first Scripture every Jewish child learns. It is still the text with which every Jewish worship service begins. It is known as the Shema, which means “to hear.” Orthodox Jews have a small box known as a “mezuzah” by their front door with a portion of the Shema in it. This was the best known of Scripture and yet the most ignored. It is a good one for us to code into our cranium.
Food for Thought
What do Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Director of Health and Human Services, and John the Baptist have in common?
They both have distinct dietary practices that up front seem strange.
John the Baptist ate locusts and honey. That sounds weird. Kennedy is proposing omitting food dyes and sugar content both of which are popular staples.
Actually the diet of John the Baptist was very healthy in that the locusts he ate were not insects, but a bean produced in the Bible land by a tree. The long bean pods are in the carob family. Carob is a nutrient-rich food that contains fiber, calcium, potassium, carbohydrates and other vitamins and minerals. It’s also low in fat and caffeine-free. In reading the Scripture that is not the image that comes to mind when it notes he ate locus.
Wild honey offers several potential health benefits including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial properties, as well as aiding in wound healing and soothing sore throats. It’s a source of antioxidants, like polyphenols and flavonoids, which help combat oxidative stress and reduce the risk of chronic diseases.
After all, the diet of John the Baptist was very healthy for his day.
Kennedy has recommended the exclusion of some foods and the inclusion of others leading to him being highly criticized. It is thought his actions will protect the public from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming health crisis in America.
The commonality between the two is both were proponents of a good diet.
Like John’s diet, Kennedy’s foods at first seemed extreme. Yet, both were proponents of a healthy diet though what Kennedy is proposing is considered by some as “pseudoscience.” He says he wants to return our health agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science.
God tells Moses to lead the Israelites to “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8). A casual reader is not likely to know that means there were large herds of milk producing sheep and goats, and domesticated bees. Again these were products the nomadic Jews would have cherished. Incidentally, archaeologists have found beehives dating from the era.
In the Bible, honey symbolizes God’s love, blessings, wisdom, and abundance. It’s also a symbol of divine provision and health.
It is to be hoped some of the Kennedy dietary recommendations will result in similar blessings.
Be a good steward of your body and eat right qualitatively and quantitatively.
Thus Saith the Lord
This can be a transitional and transformational time in America. Needed are examples of a heavenly heart. This is no time to touch up the x-rays of a traumatized society, but it is a grand occasion to administer the attitudinal antidote of a wholesome, refreshing, natural Bible-based morality that will be therapeutic. The personification of winsome, spiritual vibrancy that is, can revive an arid land. Tradition may not embrace it, protocol may not applaud it, but if the present will approve it the future will praise it. Such an ardent, affable and adroit approach to the public and political life is awaiting. I would never suggest the senseless slaughter of sacred cows, but I do suggest a few of them be milked — just for heaven’s sake.
Joshua resolutely asserted: “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” His commitment changed the course of a culture.
Daniel “purposed in his heart not to defile himself” and altered the attitude of an entire government.
With singleness of mind, the Apostle Paul got down to the basic nitty and fundamental gritty saying: “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus.”
Therefore, whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord.
Misplaced priorities have proven to be the downfall of many great civilizations. The massive wall of China was built as an impenetrable defense. It proved to be a mud-dud when the invading forces were successful in bribing a gatekeeper. America needs gatekeepers who are above reproach.
Rome decayed and died long before Alaric’s Goths poured over her walls. The weakening of any country’s character is corrosive. May the Holy Spirit guide the new spirit of Washington.
The nation’s first President to reside in the White House, John Adams, on the second night in residency wrote words now inscribed over the mantle where heads of state often dine: “I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but wise men ever rule under this roof.” Pray that the present resident will be open to the guidance of the Lord.
Our generation needs persons with hearts like unto that of James Monroe as described by Thomas Jefferson: “Monroe was so honest,” said he, “that if it were turned his soul inside out there would not be a spot on it.” Resolve to be one.
Feed heartily on the wisdom of the Word of God. Andrew Jackson spoke of its place in the superstructure of our society when he said, “That Book, Sir, is the rock upon which our republic rests.”
Daniel Webster similarly commented, “If we abide by the truths taught in the Bible, we will go on prospering, but if we do not, catastrophe may suddenly overwhelm us.” May we personally learn and respond positively.