Loving God is a Soul Thing
Other Posts in this Series
- Loving God is a Heart Thing
- Loving God is a Soul Thing
- Loving God is a Mind Thing
- Loving God is a Strength Thing
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul…”
What does it mean to love with your soul? For that matter, what is a soul? No one seems to agree. Is it that mysterious part of us that goes to heaven when we die? Is it our life in general or some specific aspect of our life? Since no one seems to agree completely about what a soul is, I can make it anything I want. I can say this verse means we are to love God with that part of us that will one day be in God’s presence in heaven. I can say this verse means we are to love God with every part of our lives. We do that often with scripture interpretation–make it mean whatever we want it to mean, that is. This is a real danger of biblical interpretation.
So I walk tip-toe into my interpretation here with trepidation knowing that Jesus may have had an entirely different meaning than I want to give it. Here goes, anyway. In the context of this verse that talks about loving God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength I cannot believe Jesus is using the “soul” synonymously with “entire life” because he delineates other aspects of our lives separately. Nor can I believe that Jesus is talking only about some mysterious part of us that will one day walk in his presence.
Another common meaning of “soul” in the Bible is “the seat of the desires, affections, and aversions.” The soul is the center of our will, our desires, and what we cling to. It is the core of that which draws us and repulses us. If this is the case here, and notice I said “if,” then Jesus is saying that in order to love God we must make God the center of our will and all we want. God becomes our chief desire. That which opposes God becomes our chief aversion.
I am compelled to stop and ask myself:
- What is really at the center of my desires in life?
- What do I want more than anything else in life?
- Given a choice between God and something else, what do I choose?
My immediate reaction is, “Of course, God is the most important thing in my life. Of course, I choose God over everything else.” However, I have been known to delude myself in the past. It is easy for us to believe what we want to believe about ourselves rather than what is actually true about ourselves. In reality, I don’t always choose God or God’s way over other alternatives. When I do choose God over other gods in my life, I am demonstrating love. When I do choose God’s way over less noble ways, I am choosing to love God.
“Love the Lord your God with all your soul.” For me, that means loving God with every choice I make in life, with every desire I hold in my mind, with every hope I cling to. Although I have not yet achieved the pinnacle of perfect love, that doesn’t mean I do not love God. Often I do choose correctly; often I do have pure desires; often I do hope in God. With each of these acts I show my love. I move toward the “all” part of that verse with halting and stumbling irregularity–but toward it I move.
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