Loving God with All Our "Meod"

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' (Mark 12:30 NIV)

So how do we love with "all our strength?" We can't help but get a picture of someone with bulging biceps when we think of strength. Does that mean that the more weight we can lift, the better we are able to love God? Strength seems to me to be a poor translation of the Hebrew word, "meod."

One of the versions of the Shema that I found on Youtube translated the word as "resources." I can "get" that. If we are to love God with all our resources, it means that we should use our worldly possessions for the good of the Kingdom. The Message version of the scriptures translates the word as "energy." I can see that too... all of what we do should be focused on bringing God's Kingdom to earth.

But after hearing Chad's explanation of "meod" last night, I think both of those translations miss the mark too. Chad said it can be translated as "abundance,"... but not like a "resources" kind of abundance. I think if we combined the two translations above-"resources" and "energy"-that would be a little closer to the kind of "abundance" Chad was talking about. It is not "abundance" as in how "much" I have, but in the "muchness" of what I have.

Chad gave some examples of where else "meod" is used in the Bible: In the flood story; Cain's anger against Abel; Abraham thanking God for the "muchness" of his life; and the "muchness" of beauty that Isaac sees in Rebecca.

I think that if I am to love God with all my "meod" (strength, resources, energy, abundance, muchness) that means I am to love God with a kind of fullness of gratitude... a gratitude that makes me dig deep into all that God has given me... the "meod" of what I have been given... and use it to worship and to share with the world. That includes my worldly "stuff" as well as every other kind of gift and talent with which he has blessed me.

I think when the translators translated "meod" into "strength," they were thinking about the word we use when we use the phrase, "the 'strength' of a mother's love." THAT is the strength with which we should love God... the kind of love that leaves no stone unturned... the kind of love that provides for every need... the kind of love that is focused and sure.

Father,
Help me to love you with everything you have given me. Amen.

Joys: a wonderful Lenten series and getting a "feel" for the depth of meaning behind some Hebrew words; Easter just around the corner; new life all around us