Sunday, January 29, 2006

Wholly, wholly, wholly

God designed us to be integrated, whole beings, with emotion, mind, imagination, will, and body working together in complete harmony. Otherwise, why would he command us to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deut. 6:5; Mark 12:30)? Inner unity, not fragmentation, is our heritage. Wholeness is our birthright, not an internal chaos where one capacity competes with the others for domination (Steve Shores, Minding Your Emotions, Colorado Springs, CO: Nav Press, 2002, p.79).


We were made like God and intended to worship, love and enjoy him. God did not make us to relate to him with one small part of our lives-the spiritual part. He made us to relate to him and express his likeness in all of life-body, mind, emotions, will....Spirituality involves the whole of human life; nothing is nonspiritual. But wherever Platonism has affected Christian teaching there has been a separation of the sacred and the secular. Thus, prayer, worship, evangelism and "the ministry" are thought to be sacred. All other activities are secular. The sacred is said to be more spiritual (Ranald Macaulay and Jerram Barrs, Being Human: The Nature of Spiritual Experience, Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1978, pp.36, 55).


Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name (Psalm 86:11, ESV).

1 comment:

Julian Freeman said...

Pr 4.23 "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life."

Lk 6.45 "The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

The whole idea of division between what I think and what I feel / between my head and my heart really seems to be a result of the fall.

The Lord desires truth in the inmost being, and it's really no wonder. He requires purity of heart for all who would see him, and the greatest command (as you quoted) is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. A good tree will always produce good fruit, right?