Pastor Marq Youngblood continued in our I’ve Been Thinking series with a message from the gospel Mark. In this passage, Jesus was asked, ““Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” His response was a callback to the Old Testament commandment in Deuteronomy, and he answered, “‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” Basically, he was saying, love God in relationship, with every part of what makes you, you.
HEART: GREEK – KARDIA: Meaning the affective center of our being” and the capacity of moral preference (volitional desire, choice; “desire-producer that makes us tick” i.e our “desire-decisions” that establish who we really are.
SOUL: GREEK – PSUCHÉ: Meaning the breath of life; the vital force which animates the body and shows itself in breathing. Our soul does not die when we die, it is eternal.
MIND: GREEK – DIANOIA: Meaning the faculty of understanding, feeling, desiring, literally “thorough reasoning”, incorporates both sides of a matter to reach a meaningful (personal) conclusion. Such “full-breadth reasoning” is essential to loving the Lord and our neighbor.
STRENGTH: GREEK – ISCHUS: Meaning power, might, force, to the extent of one’s ability