Christ and the Whole Life.

The other day, I was speaking with Old Man Tom, a good friend of mine; Old Man Tom, that’s what everybody calls him anyway. Though, I truly don't know why that is. Whether that is because he’s a wise old soul or, simply put, because he is older than dirt. I like to think it’s cause he’s older than dirt. But whatever the reason, he is a very sage individual, having more common sense than a drug store has pills. I’m telling ya.

Anyway, he came by the other day and asked me a question; he said, “Hey Charles,” because that’s what everybody calls me, Charles. He says, “Hey Charles, how would you explain Christianity in just a sentence or two?” Then, without missing a beat or waiting for my reply, he answered his own question. “I would say that following Jesus is about living a whole life from our whole life. Isn’t that an interesting thought?”

Well, indeed it was. It was so interesting to me that I asked Tom if he wouldn’t mind taking the time to explain it to me.

He said, “Well, you know, I might be persuaded to do that for a very good cup of coffee.”

Fortunately, I just happened to have some excellent coffee stashed in the kitchen. I said, “Come on in, Tom; I’ll put some on.”

Now, as Old Tom is waiting for the coffee to brew, my name is indeed Charles; that’s why everybody calls me that. And this is the Coffee-side Chat series here on the Simple Not Shallow Podcast. This podcast is for those who want a deeper faith, not an aggressively mediocre one. This series is a collection of stories conveying real things about the Christian faith and loving God. Now communicating real things about the Christian faith does mean that Scripture will be referenced in these stories. Honestly, how could it not? But rather than breaking up the flow of the story with chapter and verse listings, I will list them where they occur in the transcript of this story, which will be posted in the show notes for this episode. That way you can check out all the references for yourself and, you know, make sure that I’ve had enough coffee before starting any of this. And it should be noted, my friend, that these stories are being enjoyed while I’m nursing this here cup of coffee sitting on the table right beside me. This is, after all, a coffee-side chat.

Also, before we delve into this, I do want to mention our sponsor; yes, I am sponsored. This podcast is sponsored; by our book: Psalms 1-72, A Simple Not Shallow Presentation. It is a presentation of the Psalms that allows the Scripture to be Scripture and which allows the poetry to be poetry. It is a beautiful read and easy to read, and it does reveal the prayerfulness found in the Psalms. Now, don’t worry. I like you so much that I’ve provided a couple of links, just for you, in the show notes for this episode. And I have done that just for your convenience. So, if you want to, collect your copy today, go ahead and do so.

But for the now, grab yourself some coffee, and let’s begin with this story, this conversation with Old Man Tom.

Once his coffee was in hand, he said, “Now, before getting into this, did you hear the news?”

“What news, Tom?”

“About the hockey player from the New Jersey Devils. It seems he went to Atlanta and was arrested for stealing a fish from the fish market. Yes, according to the police report, the Devil went down to Georgia and he was looking for a sole to steal.”

“Ha… ha… ha…” Ok. Apart from the dad jokes, he has a lot of common sense.

Anyway, after he’d stopped laughing, he said, “Ok, so, living a whole life from a whole life. Where should I begin? Do you remember Jesus saying that he came to give us an abundance of life (John 10:10)?”

I said, “Sure I do, Tom. Well, technically, I remember reading about it. I mean, I am just a little too young to have actually heard Jesus say this. You know what I’m saying?”

Ok, I admit, that is not my best joke ever, but I’m proud to say it made him miss a beat or two.

He said, “Clarification noted. Anyway, he came to provide us with more life than we have ever had before. If he came to provide more, then what we had before must have been incomplete. Right?

“Simply put, he came to bring us that which was missing in us. He even uses a beautiful illustration for this; he says he is the doctor who comes to heal the sick (Mark 2:17), and mind you, at some point, everyone is among the very sick.”

“We are sick?”

“Spiritually speaking, we all have been very sick. Gravely so. And he came to make us healthy once again, to give us a healthy, a complete, or, as I have said, a whole life. So, you see, following Christ is about living a whole life.”

Now I have to admit that brought me up short. I put my cup down on the table and said, “Tom, well that makes so much sense. Ok, but what about the second half of your phrase – from our whole life, where did you come up with that?”

“Well, before I can explain that, you need to remember that there is wholeness to the Bible. It is all God’s word; everything it says builds upon and agrees with everything else it says. Right?”

I was not sure where he was going with that. So, I very eloquently said, “Ummm… Yeah?”

“So, when we are looking at one passage or teaching, we must do so through the lens of the rest of the Bible to truly understand what is being said.”

“Oh,” I said, “Yes. Yes, of course.”

“Well,” he says, “to understand what I mean when I say, from our whole life, we’ll need to view what I share next through the lens of the entire Bible in general and a couple of other passages in particular. The first one is in Ephesians (3:18, 19), which says that God’s love surpasses our ability to fully know or understand it. And the next is in Isaiah (55:8, 9), which states that God’s thoughts, ways, and manner of doing things are simply not ours. His, of course, being the higher, the purer, and the more accurate ways.

“Looking through this Scriptural lens, let’s look at the passages from which I have formed my statement. These are the ones that tell us what the greatest commandments are; those are in Matthew (22: 34-40), Mark (12:30, 33), and Luke (10:27), three of the four Gospels. The first command, of course, is to love God and the second is to love our neighbor. And we are told that these are the basis for all the other commands and teachings found in Scripture.”

He paused for a second, perhaps waiting for me to say something else very eloquent. But as I had no earthly idea as to what to say, I was eloquently silent.

He then said, “I know. I know. There is a fine line here that must be walked.”

Ok, I wasn’t expecting that, and I must have looked a little puzzled because rather than waiting for a response, he continued.

He said, “Whenever I talk about love being the greatest thing we need to do, I tend to get pushback from some individuals. From those concerned that love is simply not enough, those who feel that to focus on mere emotion is to become misdirected because faith is more than mere emotion. But I have never spoken of love as merely an emotion. Others say that what’s truly important is to learn and use our minds in order to give rational answers to anyone who asks for them. While yet others say the most important thing is to follow the commandments, do the right religious things, and, as importantly, or more importantly, avoid doing the wrong things.”

Here he paused for a moment. As for me, well, I also discovered a very profound truth. There is great eloquence in the simple raising of an eyebrow while simultaneously bringing a coffee cup to one’s lips.

He then smiled and said, “Using the lens of the whole Bible, and specifically speaking here, the lens of the books Ephesians and Isaiah. We can see that even as God’s thoughts are different from ours, so too, his concept of love will be different from ours.”

“Now that’s truly interesting,” I said. “But, how does this help?”

He said, “As I look closely at the greatest command, it seems to convey that God does not view love as an emotion. No, I’m serious; these verses show that it is much more than mere emotion.”

“Ok. How so?”

“Are we told to love with our heart only? Here in the greatest command? No. It is with our heart and mind and soul and strength. See, we must engage our heart; that is, we must engage our emotions and desires if we are to love. Isn’t that intriguing? We are to love with our emotions. Love can’t be an emotion if it is what is done through the use of emotion. Now, yes, you and I, we do, understand love as an emotion. But even as God’s thoughts and understandings are not ours, there seems to be more to love than we think. That, my friend, is worth a second thought. Next, we must engage our mind, our intellect, if we are to love. So, yes, we must learn and know whatever can be learned and known. We must be able to give thought-out answers to anyone who asks for them.

“Next, we must engage our strength, which does mean the things we do, the actions we take, if we are to love. And finally, we must engage our very soul if we are to love. Back in the day, this referred to all that is within us, our character, or, if you will, the who of who we are. Since all four of these things must be utilized in order to love, love cannot be any one of them by itself.”

Thankfully, he then paused to let this soak in. Then he asked, “Are the dots beginning to line up for you?”

Now I, very profoundly, said, “Yeah… I think… maybe.” I guess that not even all the coffee in the world could help me be eloquent at this point.

“Well,” he said, “maybe this will help. Love is more than mere emotion, more than mere intellect, more than mere actions taken, and more than the who of who we are. And love is only found if these are united and working together. Based on this, we could say that love is not truly love, it is not God’s love, if it is not from our entire being, our whole life.”

Oh… now that got my thoughts spinning. “A whole life from a whole life….” Yes, the light was beginning to dawn.

“And there is even another passage that is a lens we need to look through, 1 Corinthians (13). Which spells out for us that love is greater than any one of these four aspects. It mentions how love is superior to knowledge, controls emotions, and matters more than mere actions. And so, without it, we are much less than who we could be.

“Now, I know what you are going to ask next because everybody does. And the answer is no. It does not say here that to love is good and that everything else can be forgotten. The message from 1 Corinthians is not that these things are unimportant but that, while important, they are worse than meaningless without love. And if they are meaningless without love, then they, themselves, are not love.”

I had never made this connection before. I said, “Our emotions are worthless without love?”

“As are your character, intellect, and actions. But it does take all these, working in harmony, to love. It takes your whole life. So, you see, Christianity is about living a healthy, a whole life from our whole life.”

Now, I just sat there, gazing into my cup of coffee, while nodding my head. And I was very thankful that, in addition to being very wise and full of common sense, Old Tom is also a very astute observer of the human condition. He saw that I was going to need a lot of time to absorb all this. So, he kindly brought our conversation to a close by saying, “Well, that’s probably enough to sip on for the next week or two, and ooooh, look at the time; I’m afraid I need to be running along. I’ll catch up with you next time, my friend, and thank you so much for this conversation and the most excellent coffee. Perfect as always.” Then with a wave of his hand, he was out the door and on his way home.

If that conversation isn’t worth a second cup of coffee, I don’t know what is. Anyway. What do you think? If you don’t mind, let me know all about what you are thinking in this episode’s comments section. Click on the link provided in the show notes for this episode. Copy and paste it if you need to. And once on this episode’s home page, scroll down, and you will find that comment box and can share away to heart’s content. Thank you for listening and for sharing. Also, please rate this episode and subscribe to this podcast through the podcast service of your choice. Stitcher, Spotify, Apple podcasts, iheartradio, tune in, google podcasts, or whichever you prefer.

Well, until next time then. May you live a whole life from your whole life.

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