Holistic Love

I’m in the middle of a project for work and just had this thought...

All of us are maneuvering through new territory right now with COVID-19 and I was privileged to be a part of conversations with my church’s admin team about how we would move forward with certain aspects of service and media (I don’t ever take those moments for granted because just being in their presence teaches me a lot about ministry and business in general. Even when I was younger just sitting in the room...because I had no where else to go...taught me so much.).

A few weeks ago, once CDC recommendations came out about COVID-19, churches started moving to strictly online platforms. My Bishop decided to do the same and one night a crew of us came together to get some media stuff out the way. When we were wrapping up a shoot, Bishop said something to the effect of: “As much as I love the fellowship of the saints, I don’t like feeling like I’m rebelling against the law.”

In passing it was kind of just another conversation, but now, about 3 weeks later, I realized I missed a moment to see a characteristic of God’s love.

Jeremiah 3:15 says, “...and I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” That scripture teaches me that my interactions with my spiritual leaders give me a real-life example of God’s heart towards me. 

In Bishop expressing his concern for both natural and spiritual aspects of life, I heard God’s care for me both naturally and spiritually. 

It proved to me that God thinks about me holistically. The word holistic means: in a way that is characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.

That said, God’s love is not a lot of this and only a little bit of that, but He loves wholly and cohesively.

Whew!

It’s just like God to reveal all of this to me during Holy Week. Why? Because the ultimate proof of His holistic love for me is Christ.

Part of Christ’s existence was to ensure that God understood the intricacies of the human experience. Through Jesus, He wrapped himself in human form and was determined to prove to us that He wants to be involved in all aspects of our lives. Body and soul...

Jesus was 100% human. Jesus was 100% God. He lived the human experience. He cried. He was sad. He healed people’s bodies. He was hungry. He divinely fixed food for thousands of people out of some scraps. He had a job. He hung out with his crew. He turned water into wine. He dealt with weird people. He resurrected the dead. He got angry. He threw stuff. He cursed a tree to the point that it couldn’t yield any fruit. He got in trouble with His mother. He struggled with God’s purpose for his life. He felt forsaken by God. He was tempted to do bad things. He didn’t sin.

He was fully God and fully man...what a concept.

People always say some form of “Give your all to God,” but sometimes that idea is so difficult to internalize because of how we view God.

Maybe it’s difficult for you to give all of yourself to God because you only see God as a spiritual, distant, untouchable, unfamiliar being. While God is a spirit, He is acquainted to the human experience through Jesus. He understands it all. Every little ugly, gory, beautiful, and passionate moment of life...He gets it...and He wants yours!

Don’t be fooled. Negating that God cares about our natural experience just as much as he cares about our spiritual experience negates Christ’s existence.

So, this week as we observe Holy Week, I am encouraged and encourage you to consider the humanity of God. He’s not just God the father, He’s the Holy Spirit and The Son of Man. He cares about every aspect of your life. How dope is that?