Mark 12 Worship-Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength
March 7th, 2012 by newlifeworshipMark 12:29-31
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘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.’
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Jesus gave the religious leaders this commandment as the greatest. I think there are several things in this commandment that help us as worshipers/worship leaders to love the Lord, which helps us in turn be able to lead people well.
1. With all your heart
This is the most important piece because your heart is the place where your life begins(Prov. 4:23). Your heart can be open or closed, soft or hard, humble or proud. We know that God wants our hearts to be fully his, open, soft and humble.
2. With all your soul
God is emotional. We are emotional. Our emotions should play a role in our worship The Bible talks about joy, dancing, clapping, shouting, etc. these are emotional responses to a revelation of who God is and what he has done. Should we rely on our emotions or an emotional experience to fuel our worship? Absolutely not. But we shouldn’t leave our emotions at the door either. Who God is, and what he has done should be the driving force of our worship, and our emotions should participate.
3. With all your mind
Have you ever lifted songs to God during worship, but never really thought about what you are saying? I have. There’s a discipline to connecting your mind to what you’re doing. It takes intentionality to actually mean what you’re saying. I always tell our team that even in rehearsal, if you mean it, it’s real! Make it a practice that whenever you sing and worship God, you mean what you’re saying. Never put it on auto-pilot, always leave it in manual.
Have you ever lifted songs to God during worship, but never really thought about what you are saying? I have. There’s a discipline to connecting your mind to what you’re doing. It takes intentionality to actually mean what you’re saying. I always tell our team that even in rehearsal, if you mean it, it’s real! Make it a practice that whenever you sing and worship God, you mean what you’re saying. Never put it on auto-pilot, always leave it in manual.
4. With all your strength
I think this can relate to our physical bodies. The Bible is filled with examples of people worshiping God physically. We know David danced before the Lord. The Psalms are filled with encouragements to “praise” God, many of which translate to physical acts. Bowing, kneeling, singing, clapping, laying prostrate, dancing, these are all physical acts of worship and we should embrace them, not discourage them. Jesus gave his all for us, and he deserves nothing less than our all in return, even down to our physical bodies. If we truly are the temple of the Holy Spirit(and we are), then let God be magnified in this temple.
I think this can relate to our physical bodies. The Bible is filled with examples of people worshiping God physically. We know David danced before the Lord. The Psalms are filled with encouragements to “praise” God, many of which translate to physical acts. Bowing, kneeling, singing, clapping, laying prostrate, dancing, these are all physical acts of worship and we should embrace them, not discourage them. Jesus gave his all for us, and he deserves nothing less than our all in return, even down to our physical bodies. If we truly are the temple of the Holy Spirit(and we are), then let God be magnified in this temple.
When we worship, it should involve our entire being-Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength
