We talked about loving God with all of our strength on Sunday (Meo-dekah) from Deuteronomy 6:4-7. In the same verse we have the phrase to love God with all of our "hearts".
I want to give you some insight into this image. Understand that Hebrew/Jewish culture was a visual culture. The scriptures are filled with visuals that help us understand who God is and what he desires from us. The heart was seen as the seed of ones emotions, but it also meant the "mind".
In Hebrew the word heart = "lev" or "leva". It was the center of ones thought and spiritual life. The heart was connected with intelligence and emotions because when the heart beat fast it was related to emotions and when someone died the heart stopped. They didn't have any idea about physiology, but it made sense in their context.
If heart means our minds and emotions, it is saying to love God with all of our minds and emotions from Deuteronomy 6. Do we study the scriptures and fill our minds with God? In the Jewish culture studying God's Word was the highest form of worship. Do we fill our minds with mindless entertainment? Do we keep tabs on our emotions and love God with them as well?
Jesus and Paul were some of the greatest intellectual giants of our time. They expected their listeners to know the scriptures because loving God with the mind was essential to life with Him. In the West we tend to seperate our intellect from our emotions. In fact, when we begin to love God in this way our emotions will follow. Our affections for God will become greater and greater. That is a worthy endeavour.
Here is how Paul says it from 2 Corinthians 10:5 "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought to make it obedient to Christ".
Our minds matter, and they matter to God. Find ways this week to use your mind to love God in a fresh way. One of the obvious ways is to spend time with G0d in His word. Use some of the scriptures to get going from my earlier post.
Shalom!
