Chapter 16
If you are ready to be free from the things of this earth and set your heart, soul and mind on things above,
God's freedom is waiting for you.
God will never tell us to do anything without making it very clear how we can accomplish what He has asked of us
God has ask me to deny myself and take up my cross and follow Jesus. If I am going to be able do this I need to do it His way.
A good place to start is the first and second of all commandments
(Mark 12:29 - 31NKJV)
(29) Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. (30) '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.' This is the first commandment. (31) "And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
(Luke 10:25 – 28 NKJV)
(25) And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (26) He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" (27) So he answered and said, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.'" (28) And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."
What we have been talking about throughout this study is how to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus made it very clear as to who our neighbor is, any one we come across that is in need.
(Luke 10:30 - 37 NKJV
30 Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 "Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 "Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 "So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 "On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.' 36 "So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" 37 And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
What we are going to focus on is the first of all commandments. What will be done with this study is to show that to love the Lord our God with our complete being is the same as to deny ourselves and taking up our cross and follow Jesus. We will make it clear how to accomplish loving God with our complete being. Then we will understand how following Jesus will result in loving our neighbor as our self.
There are whole books that have been written on the study of the heart or spirit of man (From the Thompson Chain Concordance, Greek word used for the spirit of man is pneuma:G4151). The soul of man (Greek word used for soul in Mark 12:30 is psuche:G5590). The mind of man (Greek word used for mind is in Mark 12:30 dianoia:G1271, also another Greek used translated mind is G3563. nous, nooce ). The body of man which is the temple that we live in on this earth (Greek word used for body is soma:G4983). What I am trying to accomplish here is to as simply as possible explain how to love the Lord our God completely with each part of our being as commanded in Mark 12:30.
I am including the Greek words that the heart/spirit, soul, mind, & strength/body are translated from only to show that each are a distinct part of our whole being and separate from each other. The way we love our God with each part is distinctly different from the other parts. God would not have asked us to love Him with each individual part and make it the first of all commandments if it had not been extremely important that we understand how to do this, and then do it.
I have a new blog and I hope each of you will come visit frequently.
If You Like To Write, You Have Got To Come Check Out This Blogging System.