What Would It Look Like?

             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 strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) 

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:18) 

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (I Corinthians 13:4-8a) 

The first part of the first passage above (through “the Lord is one”) is known as the Shema. It’s a part of Hebrew morning and evening prayers. Jesus described the second sentence is part of the Greatest Commandment. The second passage (Leviticus) completes that commandment. The rest of the passage from Deuteronomy expresses the level of intensity of focus we should be placing on the Lord being one and our love for the Lord. It’s to be everywhere in our lives, as a constant reminder.

The passage from Leviticus was yesterday’s verse at Biblegateway.com. Coincidentally(!? Ha!) today’s exercise in soul formation is to think about what loving the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths, and loving our neighbor as ourselves would look like in our thoughts, feelings, choices, bodies, social contexts, and souls. What would it look like in our lives if this was the way we lived?

The first two glimpses we can take of this is to work with what Dallas Willard taught, that love does not seek to dominate, and love does not withdraw. We may refuse to back down from truth and may try to convince God or other people of what we believe is best for them and/or all concerned, but we do not impose, demand, threaten, assault, bully, badger, or otherwise force our choices on them. Likewise, we don’t withhold ourselves from those we love. No cold shoulders, no turning our backs, no walking away, no rejection. We may separate temporarily if we become too tired, too angry, too frustrated, too _______ but it is never a punishment or rejection of the other.

Another way to look at it is through the lens of I Corinthians 13. Can we look at ourselves in the mirror and say or either God or the neighbor (or ourselves!) “I am patient with ________. I am kind to ________. I do not envy _________. I do not boast to _________. I am not prideful around _________.  I do not dishonor ________. I do not seek my own benefit over that of _________.  I am not easily angered with __________. I keep no record of ______’s wrongs.  I do not delight when evil befalls ___________ but I rejoice in the truth. I always protect ________. I always trust _______. I always hope for _______’s wellbeing. I never give up on ________. I do not fail ______.”

Try it. Where you find something in you that struggles with or screams “Liar” about  what  you are saying, make note of it as a matter of prayer. Another good use is to go through the list, changing “I” to “God” and filling in the blanks with your name or “me,” or perhaps the name of someone with whom you’re having problems, again noting where something in you struggles.

If we loved God as we should, and loved our neighbors as ourselves, and loved ourselves properly, our lives would be characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We would be free.