He loves your heart. That part of you that feels things. The whole spectrum of emotions and desire. That part of you that laughs and cries and loves and gets angry. That part of you that wells up with passion and excitement that you find hard to articulate.
He loves your mind. That part of you that thinks things. The infinitely complex system of nerves and synapses that catalogs memories, solves problems, and learns new skills. That part of you that investigates and questions and tests out theories. That part of you that longs to know more, to connect more dots in the universe.
He loves your soul. That part of you that is the deepest you. That part of you that you are still getting to know. That part of you that you only let a few people close to. That part of you that resonates with the beauty and energy of simply being alive.
He loves your body. That part of you that touches, tastes, smells, sees, hears, and feels. The sum total of cells that make up your physical self. That part of you that has grown and matured and changed and strengthened and weakened over the years. That part of you that breathes and moves and acts in the world.
The more fully you understand and experience his love for you as a whole, complete person, the more clearly you can hear this:
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
Jesus in Matthew 22:37-38, quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5
God invites you to love him with your whole self because he loves your whole self. In fact, you cannot love God with your whole self if you don’t believe that God loves your whole self. If you remove any one of these, you have an incomplete (and even dangerous) view of a God, self, and the Gospel of Jesus.
Life is meant to be an awakening to the truth that our whole self is loved and can therefore respond in love.
