Greetings to our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

In continuation of the First Commandment, that we should love God with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul, today we will take a thought about the soul portion of the commandment itself.

It has been easy to see how this commandment is beneficial to anyone, and more of a blessing than a command.  For the rewards we receive in obeying this commandment far out shines most other rewards of doing well while on this earth.

There has always been a lot of debate about the word “soul”, and some people liken it to their spirits.  Although in the original languages, the word soul and spirit have two different meanings.  In Hebrew, the word soul is ne’phesh, and in the Greek it is psy·kheʹ, whereas the word for spirit in Hebrew is ruʹach and in the Greek it is pneuʹma.  I strongly suggest everyone does a personal study on the differences, for they are sermons unto themselves.   It has been believed that a persons soul is immortal, but this is not true according to scripture, for a persons soul also returns to the dust from where it came, yet their spirit returns to God who is the keeper of all Spirits.

To keep things simple, I like to consider the soul as the life of the man or woman, and even in a state where they are unconscious, in a coma, asleep, or otherwise no longer “there” as we know them, they are still a living and breathing “soul”.  (according to the many uses of the word in biblical text)  Whereas the Spirit is that part that has immortality offered to it, and that part of us which is in a way separated from our bodies as US, our spirits, which inhabit our temple (the body).  There is a definite spirit of man, of which there is also much that can be written, especially in co-habitation or alignment with the Holy Spirit, but these matters are for another discussion.

For now, the word soul in the commandment we will assign to our life here on earth, as flesh and blood human beings, living and breathing as such.  In this light, we can interpret the words stated in Psalms 104, that if God takes someones spirit, their soul returns to the dust.  For Jesus himself gave up his soul on behalf of man, but He commended His Spirit to God.

Now then, how do we love God with all our Soul?  Well, if our soul is akin to our life on earth, encompassing all our experiences, which include physical, emotional, mental and spiritual experiences, all that we have thought and done, and all who we have been affected by and also our relationships, then the easy thought is that we are to love God with all our LIFE.  As children, we express this type of love to many things without requiring any direction, for we are still pure and unfettered with the teaching of fear promoted by man. Yet as we grow, we become more and more damaged by the emotional and mental and spiritual abuses of the ways of man.  So at some point, if we have chosen to Follow our Lord and live as he lived, we too pick up that work, and devote our life to the way of love, faith and grace, for the hope of everlasting life in our spirit body in the Kingdom of God.  We in essence devote our soul on earth to the cause of living righteously.

And what is our “life”, do we consider our life to be simply our comings and goings and doings and not doings? Or do we also consider our life to be something beyond the day to day requirements of living?  As a human, since we are being Called to be sons and daughters of God, we have choice in how we decide to conduct ourselves each and every day.  As a believer and worker in Christ, have we made that choice to seek Life, so then why would we not love the Creator of all Life, God?

To love God on earth, means in a very general way, that we have devoted all portions of ourselves to this 1st Commandment.  Our hearts can betray us, indeed our minds can betray us, and our soul is the wholeness of our life.  Being lost in any department affects the quality of our life experience, which is why all three portions are mentioned in the commandment.  Yet they are all interconnected, and by loving God with our heart and mind, we align our life accordingly also, for our heart and mind and soul are as one, making up who we are here under the sun.  In loving God in those very private areas where no other man can know, (the heart and mind) it is the actions of our life that bear witness to the path we do walk.  All of life being encompassed by the soul, by loving God in our soul, are we expressing that love in all that we do and say and act and plan, not only inside of us, but outwardly also as testimony of God, and through adherence to the peace of God towards others.

This also is a great blessing and a great mystery, for in the turning away of ONLY loving ourselves in what we seek and do, and loving God also with ALL our soul, have we become bonded to the Highest Power in all the Universe, and outside of it, Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven in every area of our lives.  Jesus proved His love to us, by delivering his life and soul unto death, to clean up the mess of mankind, and the works of darkness here, and restore us to a place of the ultimate promise.  It was by doing so that He saved each and every one who does call on Him and live according to His Laws.  Then He rose again, in fullness of Spirit before man, to show us that His promise of Everlasting Life is real, and without doubt.  His comment on such matters of His death were that there is no greater thing any man (soul) can do for another man (soul) , than to lay down their life for their brother.

Jesus laid down His life for us, because of the great love our Father in Heaven and He, the Word and Christ has for us.  So in essence, the real goal for any of us, is that we be willing to lay down our life (soul) also for God.  In having this prowess of willingness, are we proven to love God with all our soul.  Many saints have died in the work of Jesus, and many did so willingly, for they longed deeply to be in the presence of Jesus, and to be standing in the Kingdom of God.  They devoted their works, their interest, their efforts, their time and money, their actions and words, to the spreading of the Word of God, and the good news of the Kingdom of God to all the places they could, as we are also still commanded to do to this day. We preach the Gospel unto everyone, in all corners of the earth.

Thankfully, it is far less common in these days to be put to death for being a Christian, although it is still a thing that takes place.  Even so, most of us will not have to face that, and so the “laying down of our lives” for God is one in which we have chosen, very personally, to go about the work and faith and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ instead of going about living life selfishly as we see fit alone.  We don’t love God by loving ourselves less, we love God by faith that our mission will be a success, in all the ways we follow His Son, Jesus Christ.  In doing so, we must also love ourselves, even though we have turned away from our former self.  We have done so, because our former self was HARD to love, full of selfishness and hatred and judgement and self seeking, rather than seeking the ways of eternal life, which require a much different position on which we rule over our earthly selves.  By loving God with our soul, we are allowing God to also share and love our life and soul also.  Remember, it is not that God does not love us before that, but that God patiently waits on us to invite Him into us, for we being called to be sons and daughters. We have a choice of Life or Death, and God respects His own choice to give us that choice, not stepping in if we choose other than life.  He will leave us to our own life, and our soul to its own destinations.

SO we love God with all our soul, by making God a daily part of all things that we do.  We turn over our minds to loving God, to consider always, and we turn over our hearts to loving God to process emotions and experience and will, and we turn over our soul to loving God, in order to manifest our will to be in co-habitation with the will of God in all things we do, and towards all people we encounter.  As we know, God’s will is that we should choose LIFE, and have life, and even life more abundantly than we can comprehend in our current condition.

This First Commandment was not given to us simply so that we would OBEY and give love to a God that somehow has to have our love in order to feel important.  God IS important already, and was so long before we were born.  This commandment was given to us as a gift, so that the everlasting Love of God is something we can SHARE in if we join Him in that Love.  For love is a shared thing, as are all things holy.  It is promised that if we follow this commandment, that God’s returned love will even be greater than ours, pouring our blessings in every area of our life, to our face, and also before the faces of others.

We were given this Commandment because God was trying to show us, that we are also important and loved and cherished.

Jesus Christ showed us the manner and way in which love is expressed in all areas of our life.  He lived it, and did so perfectly, being a perfect teacher to all.  And truly it is not so difficult a thing to Love God, for in the understanding of the magnitude of what God does for us each and every day, the righteous and the wicked alike, caring for us, giving us opportunity to grow, forgiving us in the hopes we repent, and putting others in our life as examples and guides, do we also find our love for God in gratitude of these things. When your day is going bad, re-devote your heart and mind to God, and to STILL acting towards the good, even in the midst of bad.  Even when angry, act in love, even when upset, act in love, even when justified in these things… still do good.  For when we deliver bad for bad, we have justified ourselves and our choice for the bad, making the statement with our soul that we choose bad and also honor it by doing likewise what was done to us, and when we do likewise, we have lost any right to complain about the bad done to us, for we have done so also to them.  But, when we return goodness for bad, we have proclaimed that truly we are workers in Christ, not letting go of what is promised to us (everlasting life) and expressing ourselves justly before God who has shown US mercy and kindness despite of all our faults.  If He shows us mercy, indeed we surely should also to others, and even to God.  For how often have we complained to God that He takes too much time, or doesn’t answer our prayers as we wish, or doesn’t do what we THINK He should do, or that He allows things to happen that we find to be evil and horrible, thereby not showing any mercy or understanding or comprehension of the love God has for us?  It is a matter that reveals more and more of itself as time marches on, if we are following in Christ.

We love God with all our soul, by bringing God with us in every area of our life, inviting Him always to guide and lead and share the experiences of our life with Him. We accomplish this with Gods help, but the only requirement is our desire to love God. When we desire to love God, we will continue to seek all areas of our life that we may still need to invite Him.

So, let us Love God with all our heart, all our mind and all our soul.  For in doing so are we dwelling within the realm of God’s Love, with God’s love dwelling within all areas of our life, and that love is everlasting and without blemish of any kind.

Ryan