Deut. 6. 5

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart’, Deut. 6. 5

Modern life is custom made for role playing. We live in a neighborhood all our lives yet we hardly know the family next door. We commute to a church miles away, walking in and out, never getting known, never getting involved or serving. We work with one crowd and play with another. The opportunities for undercover activity are almost limitless. Since no one knows us in any other context, we can re-invent ourselves in each one. Someone has said that our lives are like a chest of drawers: a separate one for each interest, value or pastime – one for work, one for play and one for the local church. For each we have a separate set of values and a different language. With each new situation we add another drawer to ensure complete appropriateness and safety. Rather than having a oneness and integrity of character, we role play.

But God doesn’t see us as a chest of drawers or a collection of separate performances, He sees us as a whole person. Who we are when no one is looking, is just the same to Him as who we are when we’re standing in plain view. God asks for integrity in our lives. That’s because life doesn’t work any other way! God made us with one will, one mind, one heart, and one spirit. It’s the enemy’s lie that we can ‘have it both ways’ which leaves us mentally and emotionally fragmented, and worse, distant from God! ‘What is the answer?’ you ask. The Bible says, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength. In other words, refuse to role play!