Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with All Your Heart
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
John 1:9-13
The World Did Not Recognize the Messiah
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Matthew 22:37-38
The Greatest Commandment
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
Luke 6:43-45
Let Us Be of Good Heart
43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of...So we must open not only our minds, but our hearts, and our souls to learn -and to learn about the Truth...
Mark 7:5-8
Some People Honor Jesus with Their Lips and Not with Their Hearts
5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”
6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’
8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
When we are seeking God, can we find Him if we are close-minded, have a closed heart, and are Spiritually closed...
Let us trust in the LORD with all our heart and lean not into our own understanding...The Greatest Commandment, Jesus said is to love God with all our heart, our soul, and our mind...The heart, mind, and soul play a pivotal and very important part in our lives and our faith...Jesus asks us for our hearts, minds, and souls...Yet, the heart alone can deliver both good and evil...A good man brings good things stored up in his heart, while an evil man brings evil out of his heart...So let us see God with all our heart, our soul, and all our mind...Let us open our hearts, and our minds, and our souls and keep them open...Closing our hearts, minds, and souls to the world, can lead us down the wrong paths...And let us know the importance of love in the open heart and open mind and open soul...
So as Jesus walked from village to village teaching as a Traveling Rabbi, He taught all people the Good News...He found different men and women listening to His Word and trying to understand what He was saying...His Parables and Proverb-like teachings had many meanings in them...Some believed in His teachings, while others did not...Some listeners were very much glad to hear His Good News, while others were not happy with Him...
In all the gospels, Jesus spoke of things that touches the human heart, the Spiritual soul, and the human mind...We must listen with our hearts, our minds, and our souls and be open to what we are hearing and listening to and reading...Our ears may hear the Words and our minds may see the Words, but they can fail to touch the heart, the soul, and mind in a truthful way...Filling our minds with facts and truths is not enough, if we our only listening with our minds, and if our hearts and souls are not open...Our hearts and souls must be opened to listen to the truth and to mystery and to new things...And thus the religious leaders, who had much intellectual knowledge did not recognize Him...There hearts and minds were set on the old and traditional ways they had learned...They did not recognize the Messiah, or the Word of God...They seemed to close their hearts and minds to His Words...The religious groups of His time were no longer looking the truth or finding out the Mystery of His life and teachings...When we close our hearts and no longer search for Truth and Mystery, we become more stagnant and live life less than abundantly...
Let us honor Jesus not only with our words, but also with our hearts...Let our lives paths, be straight and true...