of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
Because of what Jesus accomplished, we already have the assurance of God’s love for us. If we should try to gain greater intimacy by doing “good works” without having genuine love in our hearts, then our false hypocritical love will become a discordant note in God’s ear.
The apostle Paul said it this way:
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
“If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
“If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NIV)
The Love Commandments
All we really need to do to have greater intimacy with our Creator is to love him with all of our heart and “walk in love” with our fellow man. (Ephesians 5:2) All of the desires and expectations of our Creator are based upon our fulfillment of these two very basic “love” commandments!
•The first and greatest commandment is to LOVE GOD with your heart, soul, and mind.
•The second commandment is to LOVE YOUR FELLOW MAN as you love yourself.
“‘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 NIV)
•Your heart is your innermost being, and includes your human spirit and your soul.
•Your soul is your unique human personality, and includes your mind, will, and emotions.
•Your mind is, of course, your human intellect which has the ability to think and to reason.
It is interesting to note that Jesus went from loving God with our all-inclusive HEART, to the more specific “mind, will, and emotions” of our eternal SOUL, and then to the even more specific thoughts and the intents of our MIND.
This seems to imply that the most effective expression of our love for our Creator is with the thoughts and the intents of our MIND, for this is where we express our most intimate feelings.
We are all spirit beings who have a soul and live in a body. (1 Thessalonians 5:23) The human SPIRIT and SOUL that we received from our parents at conception were both defiled by the sins and “iniquities” of our ancestors, so they must first be cleansed before we can love God fully “with all of our heart, soul, and mind.”
However, if you have been “born again,” then your human spirit has already been cleansed, for “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your heart, crying, Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:6)
And since your human spirit has already been cleansed and “made alive” by the indwelling Spirit of Christ, your focus should now be on how to love God more with all aspects of your eternal SOUL.
And since your eternal soul consists primarily of your MIND, your WILL, and your EMOTIONS; the following three chapters reveal how you can have greater intimacy with our Creator in these same three areas.
Again, if you are not sure whether or not you have ever really been spiritually “born again,” this is more fully explained in Chapter Five.
This is extremely important. If you have any doubts at all about your relationship with God, you really should check this out! It is far better to be (eternally) “safe” than (eternally) “sorry!”
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