ALL

Have you ever thought about what it means to give all of yourself to something?

One of the Bible verses that seems to rest heavy on my soul is Mark 12.29-31, what we often call The Great Commandment.  Here is the scene - religious leaders weren't real happy about Jesus being on the scene and they were trying to discredit him.  They tried testing his knowledge of the scriptures and Jewish practices and one has the audicity to ask Jesus to tell them which of the commandments of God were the greatest.  Jesus says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (Mark 12.30).  He goes on to say the second greatest is just as important, to love others as yourself.

Recently it occured to me that Jesus used the word "all" before each of the aspects of our being in which we are to love God (heart, soul, mind and strength).  It seemed odd to me.  I went back to the Greek text to verify and sure enough, He said, "...ALL your heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your mind and with ALL your strength" (emphasis mine).  Wouldn't if have been easier to use just one "all" at the beginning?

Jesus wanted us to get the message...love God with everything, with ALL of who you are.  Not just heart, soul, mind and strength, but with ALL your heart, ALL your soul, ALL your mind and ALL your strength.  All.  All the good, all the bad, all the pretty, all the ugly and all of everything in between.  But aren't we suppose to only bring God our best?  God already knows our best and our worst.  God knows all of me.  And God says give it to Him anyway.

The Psalms are a reflection of this total way of thinking.  King David and the other Psalmists went to God will all of who they were; their praise and joys, their sorrows and sadness, their anger and hate. They gave it all to God.

God wants all of you.  God loves you enough to meet you right where you are in life, with all the good and the bad.  But God loves you too much to leave you there.  What we discover when we give God ALL of ourselves is that it all begins to change.  We are transformed with God's love and we become more of who God desires for us to be.  All.