The Whole Person

Part 3 of 6

So the human mind is a central aspect of our identity in Christ, and part of what makes us the integrated beings we were designed to be. The truth behind "the Great Commandment" is that we are made as whole persons, body, mind and spirit. We simply cannot be effective if any of these elements are ignored or undeveloped.

Consider basketball: to play well you must be physically well conditioned. You must have skills important to the game, such as jumping ability and eye/hand coordination. And you also need analytical skills, to understand the structure of the game, and its strategies. One cannot excel in basketball unless all of these skills are well developed and working together. Imagine a player who has great endurance, but can't dribble or handle the ball well; or a player with a solid understanding of the game and strong skills, but who is out of shape physically. Neither athlete is likely to make a lasting contribution to the team.

Unless our potential is fully developed, then, with all component parts working together, we will never achieve maximum impact in sports or any other endeavor. This applies to the life of the mind, too. The full value of our minds can only be realized through disciplined learning. We can't hold back some parts of our intelligence from the control of the Spirit Nor can we use our minds only some of the time, or only in those areas where it is easy to do so. Higher education is tough work, but nobody said serving God would be easy.

Returning again to Mark 12, note the important modifiers in the commandment about our minds. Christ said to love God with ALL your mind, not just part of it; and to love God with all YOUR mind, not someone else's. In other words, think fully, and think for yourself; in so doing, you will be expressing your love for God.
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