EU•AN•GE•LION (YOO-AN-GEL-EE-ON) · εὐαγγέλιον — Good News
EU•AN•GE•LION (YOO-AN-GEL-EE-ON) · εὐαγγέλιον — Good News
Mark 12:30
DAY 4 OF 5
Loving God with everything we have left transforms what we have lost
Coming to the End of Ourselves · 5 Days
Mark 12:30
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
Mark 12:30 (NKJV)
καὶ ἠγάπησας κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος σου.
“Pietà” — Michelangelo, 1498–99
GREEK
ἀγαπάω
/agapao/(ah-gah-PAH-oh)
To love with deliberate, volitional commitment that seeks another’s highest good regardless of personal cost or circumstance.
The future indicative form suggests this should be the ongoing orientation of life, not a momentary feeling but a sustained, chosen direction.
Jesus quotes from the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5), the central confession of Jewish faith. By citing this, He affirmed that love for God should be the organizing principle of all human existence.
RELATED
Loving God with all our strength does not require having all our strength. It requires giving everything we have, whatever that looks like.
In 1979, Joni founded ‘Joni and Friends,’ a ministry dedicated to serving people with disabilities worldwide. She began speaking internationally, wrote over 50 books, recorded musical albums, and starred in a biographical film. Her mouth-painted artwork has been exhibited globally. She married Ken Tada in 1982.
How does someone paralyzed from the shoulders down love God with all their strength? Joni’s life answers that question with breathtaking clarity.
When Jesus quoted the Shema, He presented love for God as engaging four dimensions of human existence: heart (emotional and volitional center), soul (life essence and vitality), mind (intellectual and rational faculties), and strength (physical and practical capabilities). The phrase ‘with all’ is repeated four times, emphasizing totality: no part of our being should be excluded.
Joni’s accident forced her to redefine what it meant to love God with all her strength when her physical strength was gone. She discovered that loving God with all her strength did not require physical ability. It required complete dedication of whatever capacities she retained. Her paralyzed body became the instrument through which she loved God with unprecedented intensity.
Her paralyzed body became the instrument through which she loved God with unprecedented intensity.
Everything She Had Left
By founding Joni and Friends, Joni discovered that losing her physical abilities led to gaining spiritual influence beyond her wildest imagination. The ministry now operates in over 45 countries, has distributed millions of wheelchairs, and has reached countless people with the Gospel.
But the scope of her ministry is not what makes Joni’s story remarkable. What makes it remarkable is the love behind it. She did not build a disability ministry because she wanted to be famous. She built it because she loved God with everything she had left, and everything she had left turned out to be enough.
Her heart chose to love God through daily pain. Her soul clung to life with fierce purpose. Her mind engaged deeply with theology, writing, and speaking. And her strength, redefined by paralysis, poured itself into every brushstroke, every spoken word, every act of advocacy. Four dimensions of love, all fully engaged, all radiating from a wheelchair.
Joni’s purpose was revealed not despite her limitations but through them. Loving God with everything she had transformed what she had lost into something far greater.
“Brand Stained Glass Abstract” — Generated, 2026
The Greatest Commandment
The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) was the central confession of Jewish faith, recited twice daily by observant Jews. When Jesus cited it as the greatest commandment, He was affirming the foundational truth that love for God should be the organizing principle of all human existence. The fourfold structure Jesus presents is not accidental. It covers every dimension of the human person: Heart (kardia): Our emotional and volitional center, where we feel and choose. Soul (psyche): Our life essence, the animating force that makes us who we are. Mind (dianoia): Our intellectual faculties, where we think, reason, and understand. Strength (ischys): Our physical and practical capabilities, how we act in the world. The theological implications are demanding. This kind of love is comprehensive, leaving no compartment of life untouched. It is transformative, reordering all other relationships and priorities. And it is, frankly, impossible by human effort alone. This standard reveals our need for God’s grace, as no human loves God perfectly. But it also reveals a stunning truth: God accepts our imperfect, limited, broken offering of love when it is given wholeheartedly.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The Shema was recited twice daily by observant Jews and was considered the most important statement of faith in Judaism. Jesus affirming it as the greatest commandment was not controversial. His radical addition was connecting it to love of neighbor as the second greatest.
The repetition of ‘with all’ (ex holes) four times creates a rhetorical structure emphasizing totality. In Hebrew poetic tradition, repetition indicates emphasis and completeness. Nothing is left out of the call to love God.
BRIDGE TO CHRIST
ANCIENT TRUTH
The Shema commanded ancient Israel to love God with every dimension of their being, holding nothing back from His lordship.
Joni’s wheelchair eliminated the possibility of compartmentalization. She could not give God part of herself because her limitations demanded that every remaining capacity be oriented toward Him. Her constraint became her freedom.
MODERN APPLICATION
We compartmentalize our lives, giving God our Sunday mornings but keeping our careers, relationships, and ambitions under our own control. The Shema permits no such division.
NEW TESTAMENT ECHO
Paul expressed this total love: ‘For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.’ (Philippians 1:21) True love for God means He becomes the purpose behind every dimension of our existence.
WHOLEHEARTED-DEVOTION
What does loving God completely look like in your particular circumstances?
“Sym Pitcher Clay Linocut” — Generated, 2026
PRAYER
(personal)Posture: dedication
Father, I want to love You with my entire being. I give You my heart with all its emotions and choices. I give You my soul with all its vitality and passion. I give You my mind with all its thoughts and questions. I give You my strength with all its capacity and limitation. Help me embrace Your plan completely, trusting that Your purposes are perfect even when I cannot see them. Show me the purpose You are revealing through my struggles. Amen.
TAKEAWAY
Today I will choose one dimension where I have been holding back from God (heart, soul, mind, or strength) and take a specific step to love Him more fully in that area.
LEAVING AT THE CROSS
RECEIVING FROM THE CROSS
CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
FOR REFLECTION
FOR ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNERS
FURTHER READING
RELATED SCRIPTURES
Philippians 1:21
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
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.
FOR DEEPER STUDY
Read the full exchange between Jesus and the scribe about the greatest commandment
Finished reading? Mark this day read.