With All Your Soul

This morning we continue in our study through the words of the Shema. We consider the call to love the Lord your God "with all of your soul." The word translated as "soul" in our English Bible is the Hebrew word pronounced "nephesh." While the most basic meaning of the word is throat or neck, it can also be used to refer to the whole person. We are a living, breathing, physical being. It's not so much that we have a nephesh, but more so that we are a nephesh. To love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul means the totality of a person. Our whole self is committed with trust and obedience to God.

While sin has made us fractured and disjointed beings, we are made new in Jesus and we are awaiting a glorified nephesh. We give of ourselves to God because Jesus gave himself up for us. We seek to honor God with our whole being because we were bought with a price. Jesus was broken that we would be made whole. We seek to love God not to earn restoration and eternal life, but to show God our gratitude for the gracious gift of Jesus.