SHEMA

“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.”  Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NIV)

The SHEMA is an ancient Jewish prayer that is arguably one of the most important prayers is Judaism.  It is recited in the morning and evening prayer services.  It begins with “Hear o Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

As Christians (Judeo-Christians, to be specific), we have come to understand  The Lord as three in one.  God is one, and yet God is triune — Father, Son and Spirit.  There are three aspects, or three faces, of God … yet God is still one.  I believe that one of the ways God made us in His image is that He made us triune.  We too are one and yet triune — body, mind and spirit.  And God has asked us to worship and love Him with all of who we are.  God desires for us to love Him with our heart and our soul and our strength — with our complete triunity.

God didn’t have to make us with a body.  But He did.  God doesn’t have to give us a new body in the afterlife (why not let us be all spirit?), but He will.  (See e.g., Romans 8:23, 1 Corinthians 15:45-58, & 2 Corinthians 5:1-10.). For His reasons, God values the body.  And he asks us to love Him with all that He made us to be.  Let us worship and adore God with this body, while we still can.

Author: AHRoberts

My calling is to integrate the body back into how we worship and devote ourselves to God. God asks us to love Him with all that we are. And as integrated beings made in His likeness, that must include our bodies. Unfortunately, however, much of Christianity does not include the body in faith practices. I believe God cares about all of who we are, including how we care for and interact with these amazing bodies He gave us. A group-fitness instructor for over 27 years and a personal trainer, I also have a Masters from Trinity Evangelical Divinity school. My love for fitness and for Jesus have always been intertwined. My desire is to fuel a movement that brings the body back into loving God with ALL of who we are. View all posts by AHRoberts