EXPRESSIONS
Walk Along Lord's Kingdom! (W.A.L.K)
Ramesh C. Reddy
Managing Editor
Hi
everyone :)
May the mercies and love of the
Lord permeate your own life that you may come to realize what true love is!
Amen!
“One of them, an expert in the
law, tested him with this question: ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment
in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest
commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All
the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)
In this passage, I saw 3 ways we are to love the Lord
our God given by Jesus:
- Love the Lord your God with all your HEART.
- Love the Lord your God with all your SOUL.
- Love the Lord your God with all your MIND.
First, I thought to myself what
does it mean to love the Lord with all my HEART? What came to my mind is
the PHYSICAL aspect of our lives which is our body. The heart is what makes us
live in our body. One of the functions of the heart is to give life to the body.
I asked myself how to love the Lord in the body. One
thing immediately came to mind:
1. How I treat my body.
Treating the body can involve do I show love to the
Lord by taking care of my body by exercising, eating a balanced diet, getting
enough rest, and refraining from harmful stuff. For the HEART is taken care of
when we do these things regularly.
God commands His children to take care of their bodies
so they can get rest and refrain from things that their bodies are not to be
used for.
“Remember the Sabbath day by
keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh
day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…for in
six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in
them, but he rested on the seventh day.” (Exodus 20:8-10,11)
“You shall not commit adultery.”
We can love the Lord our God with all our heart when we
do not use our bodies to consume things that will be detrimental to our health
whether it be excessive drinking or just smoking as examples but more than that
if we do not give our bodies for sexual pleasure willingly outside of marriage.
This is something that is forbidden in Scripture and especially covered well in
1 Corinthians 6.
I realized the Lord wants us to do our part in taking
care of our body but if circumstances are such in our lives that we wanted to
but could not, I believe the Lord does intervene to help so many times. Even
when we have deliberately gone our way, God is merciful and helpful so many
times. To be on the safe side and avoid consequences it would be best to refrain
from negative things. (Romans 1,2)
Second, I thought about what does
it mean to love the Lord with all my SOUL?
What came to my mind is the SPIRITUAL dimension of our
lives. Have I nurtured myself SPIRITUALLY by turning my
life over to the Lord?
I realized I could love the Lord with all my SOUL, by
being in a relationship with the Lord and growing in that relationship by
spending time with Lord by being in the Word, reading, meditating, and studying
it and by spending time in Prayer. Also, I learned that needs to be supplemented
with being part of a community of believers who will lift each other up by
fellowship and corporate prayer and study of God’s Word. This way the SOUL is
nourished and is healthy.
I was reminded of the commandments that were given that
deal with loving the Lord with our SOUL.
“You shall have no other gods
before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
“You shall not make yourself an
idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the
waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them…”(Exodus 20:4-5)
Finally, I thought to myself what
does it mean to love the Lord with all my MIND?
What came to my mind is the PIE dimension of our life:
Psychological, Intellectual, and Emotional! Have I been
using my mind and allowing my mind to do things that show I love the Lord?
I asked myself what are ways I
can love the Lord with all my mind?
What came to my mind is that I need to take care of my
mind no matter what psychological ailment I may have. I also need to use my mind
to glorify the Lord in the intellectual aspects by studying to learn knowledge
so I can help other children of God. In other words, I need to sharpen my mind
with things to bring glory to God. Pursuing academics is one way to glorify the
Lord and love Him with all our mind. Emotionally loving the Lord with our mind
encompasses our thought life and put it simply the way we use our emotions. It
also involves our interaction with others.
These commandments spoke to me about loving the Lord
with all my mind.
“You shall not misuse the name of
the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his
name.” (Exodus 20:7)
“Honor your father and mother, so
that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
The key word I saw in all these 3 aspects of loving the
Lord is “ALL” It encompasses a complete surrender and not holding anything back.
Anything that is repetitious is so important. One of those words is “ALL” that
has been repeated! The Lord wants our complete love. This is the greatest
commandment Jesus gave to the expert in Jewish law.
Jesus did not stop there but included another
commandment and said, “. And the second is like it: ‘Love
your neighbor as yourself.’
I thought to my self what does it means to
‘Love your neighbor as yourself’
What came to my mind is the SOCIAL dimension of loving
the Lord. Jesus even made the comment, ‘when you do it to
the least of my brethren, you have done it unto me.’
First, I thought to myself how do I love myself and
that’s how I should love others. The Golden Rule came to my mind,
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
I learned when we cannot love ourselves and who the Lord
made us to be, it would be that much harder to love others. It is implicitly
implied in this commandment to love ourselves.
I asked myself how to love others and these
commandments came to my mind-
“You shall not murder.” (Exodus
20:13)
“You shall not commit adultery.”
(Exodus 20:14)
“You shall not steal.” (Exodus
20:15)
“You shall not give false
testimony against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16)
“You shall not covet your
neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife….or anything that
belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:17)
After Jesus finished giving the 2 commandments to the
expert in Jewish law, He said, “All the Law and the
Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
I ask you now dear friends, "How
is your love?"
Dear friends our love towards the Lord and our neighbor
is reflected in our actions! Those actions are governed by the spiritual,
physical, psychological, and social dimensions of our life. Especially, whether
all those areas come under the Lordship of Jesus Christ reveals the love we have
towards the Lord and our neighbor is what I have been learning.
I saw important implications for our lives. Whether we
are students are not these principles can make an impact on our lives.
We can love the Lord with all our HEART by eating well,
exercising, getting rest, and refraining from using our body for illicit
purposes.
We can love the Lord with all our SOUL by studying the
Word and being in a prayerful relationship with the Lord. This can be
supplemented by being in a community of believers who love the Lord too. You can
be part of a corporate prayer group or small group study in your church and
fellowships you maybe part of. I encourage you to get involved if you already
are not.
We can love the Lord with all our MIND by practicing
ways to keep ourselves emotionally, psychologically, and intellectually healthy.
When I speak of emotionally, I mean not harboring stuff that can pile up and eat
us up. Psychologically, if we have ailments such as depression, we can get help
through counseling and medication for the Lord heals through medicine too.
Intellectually, we can love the Lord by doing our best in the studies we have
taken and learning knowledge for the glory of God rather than just studying for
the grade. Emotionally, we can also make sure what goes in, for if we take
garbage into our minds, we will get out garbage.
These examples of loving the Lord are not exhaustive.
We can show we love the Lord by the way we love our
neighbors too but we need to love ourselves first is what this passage thought
to me. Friend, it is not always easy to love ourselves especially when we see
our shortcomings. I want you to know that Jesus loves you as you are and He
wants to help you love yourself if you don’t. He has called you by Name, you are
precious and special in His sight. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You will
never be out of His love and never be out of His reach!
When you are able to understand the love of the Lord
and His love permeates your life to be able to love yourself, you will be able
to love others and this is where the SOCIAL dimension comes into play. There are
so many ways to love our neighbors socially.
I hope what I have learned has helped you as I shared
it with you. May we all come to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, and soul
for we have Christian lives to live and Jesus Christ to give!
Jesus said, "I am the Vine and my Father is the
Gardener...." (John 15:1)
Loving Our Vine Enthusiastically!
(L.O.V.E)/”How is your Love?”
Prayer:
Dear Jesus, thank you so much for
loving us unconditionally and we are never out of your love and out of your
reach. You love us as we are. Help us Oh Lord to love you with all of our heart,
mind, and soul and help us to love our neighbor as you help us love ourselves.
We cannot do it on our own. Oh Lord none of us can keep the commandments and
love as you want us to love without your intervention and supernatural help. So
I pray for your Holy Spirit to work in us and through us please Lord. We need
you and desire you. Help us Oh Lord for the glory of Your Name. Deliver us and
thank you for atoning for our sins. And Lord I want to thank you that when we
mess up, you are there to pick us up and help us over again. You are a God who
is merciful and loves us so much. Thank you Jesus and thank you so much for the
power of your Word and when we study your Word, how much we can learn from you.
Thank you that Your Word is ‘Living and Active’, like a two-edged sword
evaluating us. Thank you for being the Author of our Lives and giving us the
best instruction manual to be able to live all the dimensions of our lives for
your glory. We turn our lives over to thee and ask thee to forgive us of our
sins and cleanse us with your cleansing blood. Thank you Jesus so much for dying
for our sins and coming back to life to save us. In Your Name I Pray Jesus!
Amen!
Love in Christ,
Ramesh
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