Mark 12:29-31
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
This week is Camp HoriSon. There are 115 kids here for camp, and they are surrounded by a small army of 40+ youth and 20+ adults to make everything happen. As we talked about on Sunday, our theme this week is Keep It Simple. We are talking about what it means to Love God and Love People. We are learning what it means to love God with everything you have: all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. As I write this article, it is Tuesday, the second day of camp, and we will look at what it means to love the Lord your God with all your soul.
The words of Jesus in Mark 12 begin by quoting Deuteronomy 6. The Hebrew word used in Deuteronomy that most often gets translated as “soul” is “nephesh.” We sometimes think of the English word “soul” as this non-material part of us that survives after death. It is the idea that we all have this thing called a soul and that thing leaves our earthly bodies when we die to go to heaven. But nephesh means something different. It refers to humans as living, breathing, physical beings, or just to life itself. It is everything you are as a creation of God, you are a soul. So if nephesh is your very being, that can help how we read this scripture. It illuminates the idea that we should love God with our soul, EVERYTHING we are, our very being.
Psalm 119:175 says, “Let me live that I may praise you…” Or to use our new word in the Hebrew version of Psalm 119—”Let MY NEPHESH live, that IT may praise you.” Our entire being, our body, the essence of who we are, should be praising God. We should devote our physical existence, capabilities, and opportunities to God.
When we read these words of Jesus, there should be no doubt that we are called as believers to love God with everything we are and everything we have.
Prayer: God, give us the strength and help us to love you with everything. Amen.
Grace and peace,
Aaron
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