What is a Christian called to do other than to live out the Great Command?  Or is it better to describe and define a Christian as being one who lives out the Great Command?  The passage from Mark reads:

“One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’  Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, “HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD YOUR GOD IS ONE LORD; 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.” And the second is this, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”  There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:28-31, NASB).

This passage has led me to believe that there are four parts of a person; their heart, soul, mind and flesh.  A person’s heart is best described as their spirit; it is their passion, their drive, it is what makes them tick.  To love God with ALL our heart means that we love God with every bit of passion and drive we have.  God is our only motivation, our only desire; it means we are completely desperate for Him and Him alone.

The term soul is commonly translated with words similar to breath and life.  Here in this passage when the soul is tied directly to the person and given an action it is defined by deep feelings and affections (Strong’s 5590, 2); which is much easier to state it as being our emotions.  To love God with ALL our soul means we are giving God all of our emotions; we are not holding back any of our emotions at all.

The mind of a person is not too hard to define at all as it is our mental capacities.  The question that comes into play is when we link our mind to the passage of loving God with all of our mental capacities.  Essentially, when we love God with ALL our mind, God begins to teach us as He originally desired (Hebrews 10).  In this learning we receive the mind of Christ as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 2.

Lastly is the strength of a person mentioned; as in one’s might or power.  To love God with ALL our strength is to love Him with everything we can muster up in our flesh; to love Him with our entire physical body.

We will break these down over the days to come, but for now I simply ask if your way of living defines a CHRISTian?  One who is completely desperate for God, who is not holding back their emotions in their worship of living with God no matter who is around them, who is living under the same love of Christ sharing His mind, who is loving God with every aspect of their physical bodies has nothing left that could even be tempted to sin.  This is true death to self as Paul taught by saying I have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20).

I desire to live a Faith-Full life, in the fullness of His love alone.