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Loving With a Whole Heart

March 17, 2023

Hosea 14:1–9  |  Psalm 81:8–14  |  Mark 12:28–34

I can’t quite believe I was assigned this reading. It is so very foundational to our faith. It’s what I’ve heard in my head – and in church – my whole life. These two commandments – to love God with all our heart and to love our neighbor as ourself – are perfect in their simplicity. Really, we don’t need anything other than these words. Just imagine if we all kept our hearts focused on God with our WHOLE heart and we truly loved our neighbors as ourselves.

Let’s pause for a moment on the idea of the “whole heart.” I love it. Every time I read it when we confess our sins, I am struck by the power of that idea. God isn’t looking for some segment of my heart; God wants the whole darn heart! In truth, God usually doesn’t get my whole heart. Even now, I know I am holding back from full communion with God. Why? Probably a fear that I will somehow lose something. I am still a work in progress.

In regard to loving our neighbors, well, I know I fall short there too! This commandment could literally bring world peace if we could all just practice it! I really believe that, yet I find myself falling short all the time – judging, criticizing, comparing.

I suppose I’m not alone. After all, that’s why on Sundays we confess to falling short on these two things. I will continue to hear Jesus’s commandments and pray those words of confession, looking to the day when my whole heart will follow.

Elizabeth McNamara