Did you give or receive an Easter Egg to celebrate ‘new life’ at Easter this year? Perhaps you keep a European tradition and boil an egg to symbolise the sealing of the tomb in which Jesus was laid after his crucifixion, and you then cracked open the egg to celebrate the life within and remember the new life you have because of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday. Jesus says “I am the resurrection and the life, the one who believes in me will live, even though they die…” (John 11:25, NIV). When a person freely chooses to follow Jesus, God puts his Spirit into their ‘heart’ and they become a ‘new creation’ (2 Corinthians 5:17). They receive new life NOW while they are alive, and this empowers and enables them to live a godly life that reflects Jesus’ compassionate love to others within their sphere of influence. The person also receives new life when they die. The soul leaves their body and returns to God and is given a new body and is made whole and able to live with God for eternity. This is the hope and promise confirmed by Jesus’ death and resurrection at Easter.
So what does the Bible mean when it speaks of the ‘heart’?
There are numerous answers to that question because the heart is referred to hundreds of times throughout scripture in various ways. A brief summary of the term ‘heart’ (in Hebrew ‘Leb’, in Greek ‘Kardia’) includes our physical beating heart which is the source of our life. The biblical heart includes functions of our mind including free-will, the ability to gain knowledge, to feel and respond with emotions. The human spirit enables all humans to give and receive love, and experience faith and hope. Our ‘heart’ enables our human spirit to form a relationship with God. Our human spirit is enlivened by the Spirit of God entering our ‘heart’ when we believe in Jesus Christ. We are able to discern what is right and reflect God’s compassionate love to his creation and to other people. God gives us his Spirit because he wants his followers to share his love liberally!
The most important command that Jesus Christ gave his followers while he was on earth was to “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: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Matthew 22:37-39, NIV) Sharing God’s love is not a charitable choice, nor is it ‘a nice thing to do’ if and when we feel like doing it, rather it is a commandment that followers of Jesus must obey. We can only keep that command because God’s spirit has been placed in our hearts to empower and enable us to respond and care for the whole person with God’s love.
We are whole people, made up of inseparable dimensions
We live in our body which enables us to move around and process the creation, the physical environment and its people. We have a mind that enables us to process what is happening in our body, and in our environment, and in our relationships. We are a spirit which is the animating life force breathed into human beings at the dawn of creation, enabling every person to have a relationship with God and to discern the spiritual dimension. Additionally, God’s word - the Holy Bible says we have a ‘heart’ which may be interpreted as the seat of our free will from which can make a choice to enter into a relationship with the living God. When we say ‘yes’ to God, he enables his Holy Spirit to enter our heart to enliven, inspire and help us to discern God’s way to live and to share his love.
I was reflecting on Easter and eggs when a simple visual came into my mind which is presented below. It may help to explain the whole person by using a whole egg as the representation of a person’s parts. Humans are integrated whole people and live and respond to the needs of others as whole people. When a person is distressed in one dimension of their being, it impacts their whole person. Our care is more effective when we respond holistically to the person with compassionate care that reflects God’s love for them.
Today we have had a brief and simplified explanation of what we mean by the whole person. You can explore this topic further in AFCNA’s free online 10 minute video teaching and reflection handout titled ‘Care of the Whole Person’, available from AFCNA’s online Education hub in the course ‘Compassionate Care for the Whole person’. Click here to access. It provides a taste of what we will look into when we discuss ‘Compassionate care for One Another in a 1 day workshop to be held on Friday 28th June 2024 in the Adelaide Hills. You can find out more here and register here.
Dr Antonia van Loon RN PhD
Chairperson AFCNA
www.afcna.org.au
April 2024
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