the first and greatest commandment

Jesus says "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind." 

I've thought about this a lot lately, as one of the biggest battles I've faced on STINT is the battle between my flesh and spirit. I know I love God and I know that nothing could ever take that love away. My faith in Him is steadfast and my commitment to Him will never be withdrawn. Seasons of hardship will come, but my faith will never leave me. Yet..I don't always act that way. Far too often, what I believe to be true deep in my soul doesn't reflect itself in my heart or my mind.

My soul, is the part of me that is protected. The moment I gave my life to Christ was the moment I let my soul belong to Him. We often say the word "saved" when we talk about salvation, and though Jesus never said it, I think it portrays the redemption we receive through faith fairly well. We are saved into a life with Christ for all of eternity, and we are saved out of a life of death and eternal separation. My soul, which receives salvation from the Lord, loves Him deeply and intimately.

My heart, is the part of me that is filled with all my emotions. It is what carries my personality, my passions, and my desires. My heart holds my likes and my dislikes, my comforts and discomforts, my joys, pains, and sorrows. At times, it is aligned with my soul and the Spirit within me, as I reflect upon my salvation and the grace of my King. These are the times I love the Lord my God with all my heart. But often, my heart is wooed by the things of this world. It is distracted by life circumstances and torn by the many experiences I face. The enemy entices it with worldly comforts and desires instead of Godly ones. The salvation of my soul remains the same, but the state of my heart is summoned in another direction.

My mind, is the part of me that is filled with my thoughts. In my mind, I store wisdom, knowledge, have my opinions and make decisions. I think deeply and question things. My mind is where I dwell on different concepts and ideas, and where I believe things to be true or false. When my mind is focused on the truths of Scripture and attentive to the Spirit, I am typically aligned with my heart and soul as well. But like my heart, if I let my mind take it's focus off the Lord for even a moment, it becomes prey for the enemy to attack. Scripture is twisted and lies somehow are confused with truth. Healthy opinions suddenly turn into judgment, wisdom becomes foolishness, and mindless small talk somehow becomes more engaging than profound conversations about eternity. The salvation of my soul, again remains the same, but the state of my mind loses focus.

I think it's far too easy for us to go about our lives knowing our souls are protected and secure in our salvation, saying "I love the Lord my God with all my soul" and never love Him with our minds and hearts. When we pray "Father, fill me with your Spirit" we need to invite Him to take full control over every part of our life. We need to make our every thought, emotion, word, and response available for Him to move. 

This battle between my flesh and spirit, is none other than the very battle I choose to step into when I shift the gaze of my heart and mind off the Lord and onto the things of this world. I may love the Lord my God with all my soul, but it is when I love Him with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind, that He is reflected in the life that I live.

This is the first and greatest commandment. I don't think the God of the universe takes it so lightly as we do.