Christian Living
WHAT MUST I DO?
Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?”
He said, “What is written in God’s law? How do you interpret it?”
He said, "That you love the Lord your God with all you passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence - and your neighbour as yourself."
"Good answer!" said Jesus. "Do it and you'll live." Luke 10:25-27 (The Message)
An interesting way of answering a question - with a question. It makes the questioner think. In response to this religious leader's question, Jesus replied, "You tell me." Since he had probably been trained in the "Rabbi School", he came up with the correct answer, also something he had learned at his mother's knee - the Shema.
The Message translation puts an interesting slant on these words - "passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence..." How and why should one love God with passion? Although love is essentially an action word, it is not without passion. How can one love God without passion? The very word "God" invites passion because God is about passion. What is passion? Passion implies fervour, energy, heat, enthusiasm, drive, vigour. Without passion, love is bland and colourless.
How can we love God with prayer? Prayer is essentially a shift in awareness, from self to God. To love God with prayer moves Him from the periphery to the centre of my thoughts. Before the Fall, God occupied the centre of Adam's awareness, but his disobedience brought an immediate change, "I was afraid because I was naked." Part of the process of being transformed is to restore the awareness of God to the centre of my life by training myself to think "God" instead of me.
Muscle? How do I love God with muscle? Is this a reference to obedience, to responding with action to the communication I receive through my God-consciousness? Muscle conveys the thought of prompt and energetic obedience to God's will, as Abraham did when God told him to offer up Isaac.
This little cameo concludes with intelligence. How important this is in our interaction with God! We are not robots and He does not treat us as robots. That does not mean that we either question God or choose whether or not to obey, but it does mean that we function with understanding.
What Jesus is saying is that we are to love God totally, with our entire being and function, working with zeal and energy to grow our awareness of God and of the blessing and authority of being His sons and daughters. He is the centre of our lives and we live through Him and for Him.
PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
Reader Count & Comments
Date
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com. This is especially true with articles that
deal with personal healthcare and prophecy. We encourage the reader to make their own decision in consultation with God, His Word, and others as needed.
This article has been read 403 times < Previous | Next >
Read more articles by Luella Campbell or search for other articles by topic below.
This article has been read 403 times < Previous | Next >
Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)
Read more by clicking on a link:Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
NEW - Surprise Me With an Article - Click here for a random URL
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE
FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.