The importance of understanding God shows up everywhere in Scripture, including this well-known exchange between Jesus and a scribe:

One of the scribes came and …. asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE is One, and there is no one else besides Him; and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

Mark 12:28-34 (NASB)

This is of course, the affirmation of The Greatest Commandment, to love God with everything in you. Your heart, your mind, your strength. To do this is more important than any religious activity or observance of any church law. Of course, if religious activity and church laws totally lined up with this command, there wouldn’t need to be a distinction between them. But that wasn’t the case in Jesus’ day, and it is not the case in ours.

I, for one, am thrilled to have this totally clarifying statement. When I first became a Christian, reading the Bible, attending church, hearing sermons, learning all about this new religion, it was overwhelming. I really wanted to do it all right, and it didn’t take long to figure out not everyone agreed on what that should look like.

Thank you, Jesus. And thank you, unknown scribe, for throwing in the word “understanding” to enlarge our concept of loving God with all one’s mind. The Greek word for “mind” can mean understanding, but generally refers to one’s thoughts or thinking. But a different Greek word was used by the scribe for “understanding,” a word that includes the idea of having insight and understanding.

I can have lots of loving thoughts about God, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I understand Him. Jesus’ response to the scribe tells me he caught the nuance, and he affirmed it.

Beloved, it is an act of love for God to seek to understand Him. I know because I consider it an act of love when my friends and family seek to understand me. It shows a level of honor and care and value for me that goes beyond just showing up and being together. When my husband or child or friend seeks to know the “whys” of my heart, I feel truly seen and heard. When no one asks or seeks, but only presumes my preferences and values in the nuances of life and circumstance, I feel unnecessary, overlooked, left out of a conversation that I should be included in.

I am not bringing God down to my level, or diminishing Him. I am honoring the fact that He is the original Person, and, being made in His image, I find understanding just by relating to him as I would a person with skin on.

I said all that stuff to try to bring the whole idea of understanding God down to its simplest terms. You’ve heard somewhere that it’s important to love your neighbor as yourself. I suggest you should love God as yourself — or as you want others to love you.

Ask. Honor Him with seeking questions. Don’t presume. Don’t leave Him out of the conversation because you think you already know enough. Keep seeking to know and understand God in all the nuances of life and circumstance.

The more you understand God, the more you will know how to love Him well.

Thank you, Father, for your son Jesus!

Thank you, Jesus, for giving me the Father and the Spirit!

Thank you, Spirit, for helping me know and understand you all!

Please stir in me the desire to know and understand you every day. Every day, please awaken me to your Presence and activity. Every day, teach me how to walk with you, my God.