"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'" Matthew 22:36-37
"with all … with all … with all..."
Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 6:5. He said this is the greatest commandment. The Greek word here translated "all" is holos (ὅλος). It is the root of the English term "whole." It means whole, complete, entire, "properly, wholly, where all the parts are present and working as a whole – i.e. as the total, which is greater than the mere sum of the parts."
All the parts present and working as a whole means holding nothing back. Jesus came and showed us how to love with all.
"… whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:27-28
Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2
He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. Titus 2:14 (NLT)
Jesus gave all, the whole. As Tozer wrote, His very self.
"That eternal life which was with the Father is now the possession of believing men, and that life is not God's gift only, but His very self."
― A.W. Tozer, God's Pursuit of Man
All. Can I do that? Can I give all the shattered pieces of my heart, scattered, distracted, resisting, all the carefully separated and locked up memories. Or, will I keep holding back in entitlement to rage, unforgiveness; holding back in fear of the complete destruction of the remaining fragile ego; holding back the needed surgery on the bleeding, infected, pus-filled, putrid, putrescent wounds?
All, the whole, entire, complete. My voluntary will binding it all together, like Abraham binding Isaac and laying him on the altar. The sacrifice total, greater than the mere sum of fragmented, dismembered, mangled, defective parts. Am I loving Him with all my mind, or am I holding back, reserving a little doubt, a little reinterpretation to justify some sin, unforgiveness, some command I don't want to obey. "Did God really say?" Am I clutching some precious part of my life, unable to lay it on the altar?
But Jesus said I have to give up everything.
Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won't he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. Luke 14:31-33
"If we shrink from the thought of fighting against God, we had better accept His conditions of peace. The worst folly of all is to enter into the conflict with a wavering will, not caring to know what "the things belonging to our peace" actually are, or to endeavour to stand apart in an impossible neutrality." -- Eliott's Commentary for English Readers
"An impossible neutrality." Yes, being neutral before God is impossible. But that's what we want – a truce. I will just keep going my own way and God will do His thing and let me be. I will keep back just this one thing and God will blink. But it doesn't work that way. The King is on His way. He may be still a long way off, but He is on His way. And His terms of peace are all. All is what God wants of us. All or nothing.
"So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26-33). Jesus said a lot in those simple illustrations. He quickly put an end to the idea that He offered some kind of welfare program. Although the gift of eternal life is free to anyone who asks (John 3:16), the asking requires a transfer of ownership (Luke 9:23; Galatians 5:24). "Counting the cost" means recognizing and agreeing to some terms first. In following Christ, we cannot simply follow our own inclinations. We cannot follow Him and the world's way at the same time (Matthew 7:13-14). Following Him may mean we lose relationships, dreams, material things, or even our lives." -- Got Questions https://www.gotquestions.org/count-the-cost.html
Give me grace Lord to accept your terms of peace: Everything.
When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Genesis 22:9
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32
The LORD is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! Psalm 118:27 (ESV)
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13
Photo, "Broken Pot" by Silly Little Man https://flic.kr/p/8PtRAa
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