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'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' Matt. 22:37-39
I find it quite interesting that each mention of this in the Bible always lists the heart first and the mind near the last. I think that is very significant. I also am beginning to see that loving your neighbor as yourself cuts two ways and has interesting implications. It also is much more of a heart issue than a mind problem. It is, in fact, a principle as much as a command.
If I don't love my own heart, respect it, value it and care for it I am incapable of effectively doing that for the people closest to me, my spouse and family. I am not referring to selfishness, I am referring to discovering my true identity that God implanted in me at conception and designed for me to be.
I am a human being, not a human doing. But long ago I lost sight of that and have viewed myself in essence on the basis of all my doing. Therefore I became an image manager and live in constant fear of what others might think about me. This also disables me from relating to the hearts of those around me especially in my family.
Pr 4:23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.
I never really understood what this was saying until this morning, at least to a greater degree. My heart is really the “vital connection” to the Source of Life, God Himself. When I am not connected and aware of my heart I have choked off the channel through which I need to receive life. I also am unable to give life to other hearts. If my heart is buried under a mountain of religion, fear, shame, information, worries, distractions, addictions etc. – the spring is clogged up and I don't experience fruitfulness and joy and all the results of living water in a dry land.
