Being Whole
Jesus’ words about the foremost commandment in Mark 12 are a reminder to me about how to pray for our children. When the scribe asked Jesus about the foremost commandment, Jesus quoted from the law of Moses, saying:
The foremost is,
“Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one;Â Â
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.”
Mark 12:29-30
I want our children and grandchildren to love God that way, too. I also ask God to bless them in heart and soul and mind and strength. I am grateful that you are nourishing your children’s hearts, souls, minds, and strength. With the emphasis we have always heard about the “separation of church and state,” we can easily fall into the erroneous thinking that we can separate people’s hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and that we can separate the education of our children’s hearts, souls, minds, and strength, but we can’t.
God made us whole beings. Trying to separate heart, soul, mind, and strength into different categories can be compared to trying to separate my hand from my arm. Everyone knows that would be ridiculous. Without my arm, my hand would die. Perhaps we need to think more about the dependence that our hearts, souls, minds, and strength have on each other. Perhaps if we separated one of those from the others, one of those might die, too.
James Nicholson’s 1872 hymn begins: “Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole.” I think everyone longs to be perfectly whole. We need a healthy heart, soul, mind, and strength to be perfectly whole.
Examine me, Lord, and put me to the test;
Refine my mind and my heart.
Psalm 26:2
The Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
Psalm 19:7
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart triumphs,
And with my song I shall thank Him.
Psalm 28:7