Today we are going to focus on spiritual balance … daily spiritual balance.

In Mark 12, Jesus was asked which of the ten commandments was most important. His reply surprised them:

‘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.””

What is the first key phrase in this passage? The action verb Jesus began with? … LOVE - Love the Lord … your God.

To find spiritual balance, we have to start with the very personal question of: How much do I love God?

How do we love God with our all our Heart, all our soul and all our mind with all of our strength? Jesus showed us a road map in this passage: it is the premise of what we do here every day.

We start with getting present with God - just me and Him - getting still.

Notice the passage starts with internal, intimate things - not intellectual things like the mind. It starts with our heart and soul. The order to this is very important

That’s why we start by paying attention to our heart - what we are feeling and bring it to Him.

Then we focus on our Soul by approaching God as a child with all our feelings, failures and desires.

Only then do we engage our mind, by taking in what God is saying.

Lastly our strength, what we do with encountering God.

These are the steps Jesus slayed out to find spiritual balance

Start, as Jesus said, with our heart -our feelings, then move to our soul - experiencing God caring for the deepest part of us, then move to feeding our minds by taking in what he is saying and then, and only then should we move forward in strength… Knowing the source.

What part of the 4 quadrants do you struggle to let be known by God? Heart, soul, mind, strength?

These are all connected. Your heart matters. Your soul matters. Your mind matters. Balance may be found in understanding and accepting that God loves all of you. He cares for all of you. He wants all of you.

Can you allow God to love you today? Can you let him know more of you this next year?

As you ruminate on those feelings, let’s take some slow deep breaths once again.

Breathe deep … just like His truth has come into your being today … then slowly exhale and let go of yesterday, the past. Move into the balance God offers you in this new day.

Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, thank You for taking all of the laws and simply telling us to love You with all we have, through a relationship with Jesus. Today, I seek Your balance. I give you my heart. My mind. My thoughts. My attitude. My spirit. My being. All that I have for all that You are. As above, so below.”