Loving God

November 4, 2009 | by Stefan Slonevskiy | Category: Devotions

“Swami Shivananda, a famous swami in India used to tell his disciples: “Kill the mind and then, and then only, can you meditate.” The Christian position is, “Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thy mind”—the intellectual nature; “with all thy heart”—the emotional nature; “with all thy soul”— the willing nature; and “with all thy strength”—the physical nature. The total person is to love him—mind, emotion, will, strength. But the “strength” might mean the strength of all three. Some love him with the strength of the mind and the weakness of the emotion —the intellectualist in religion; some love him with the strength of emotion and the weakness of the mind—the sentimentalist in religion; some love him with the strength of the will and the weakness of emotion—the man of iron who is not approachable. But loving God with the strength of the mind, the strength of the emotion, the strength of the will—that makes the truly Christian and the truly balanced and the truly strong character.” –E. Stanley Jones, Song of Ascents