“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” (Mark 12:30)
Just in this one verse alone we are told how our life is to be lived, what our priorities are to be, what is to drive every action, every word, every thought. I fear to say this but I believe many who profess Christ as Lord believe this is how heaven will be, but they are not living this verse today.
“But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7)
That part of us that is deceitful above all else, (Jer. 17:9) that inner part of us that drives our emotions, that desires to be with Him for all eternity, but yet is not devoted to Him in its entirety here. If you will not give the Lord your heart here, how do you expect to do so in heaven?
Our soul is our innermost being, it is a compilation of our intellect and our emotions, it is the us as we are in totality. “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Eze. 18:4) I would ask you to consider this, perhaps a little too early in this short letter to you, but is it any great wonder that we should serve Him with every fiber of our being whom all are bound to serve anyway?
The mind is that analytical part of us, the part that demands proof, and well it should, for if we serve anyone who says they love us yet never prove it by any action, what proof is there of that love? Has God satisfied your mind, not just in the fact that He does indeed exist, but in a visible practical, undeniable way that cannot be questioned?
There is no emotion in the mind, that is reserved for what we call the heart of man, and it is why it is easier to deceive the heart, those emotions, than the mind, for the heart does not need facts. Together our emotions, our heart and our mind, our intellectual capabilities make up, as it were, our soul. You will still be you in heaven, albeit without the constant assailing of our old sinful nature, but so will those in hell, they will know no rest from the suffering of their soul.
But what of that strength, how are we to love the Lord our God with all our strength? One verse stands out as to the nature of our heart. “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (1 Cor. 9:27) But it could be said of the mind as well, when our emotions get the better of us it can be very difficult to think rationally, to employ those analytical processes of the mind, and you may choose any emotion that you have ever experienced and will see this statement as truth.
How do we counteract that heart that nearly always wants to lead the way, that falls easily into 1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
The mind, that deductive reasoning part of us that requires facts must control the emotions, not in a logic-based way that continuously attempts to bury them down deep and leave them there, but in such a way as to control them, to keep the reins from that most deceitful part of us.
If you think of nearly any of the words that the Lord Jesus spoke to those He met you will see unmitigated logic, deductive reasoning skills that took every facet into account and offered conclusions that could not be denied. Yet He had compassion on the masses, He wept at His friend’s tomb, He feared, as much as God can fear, in the garden that night to be separated from the Father for even an instant.
The strength our opening verse mentions comes from a firm commitment that He who has promised is faithful, (Heb. 10:23) that He intends and will guarantee a good end for us, (Jer. 29:11) the knowledge in our mind that proves to our heart that where He is, is where we will be for all eternity. Our soul rests upon this knowledge, these truths, and we are strengthened.
