How The Six Dimensions of The Human System Relate to Luke

Introduction

Six distinct ranges of abilities make up the human system. These dimensions include: thought, feeling, will (spirit, heart), body, social context, and soul. Luke10:25-28 states, “On one occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the law?” He replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”” (NIV)

This project will show the relation between the six dimensions of the human system and the commandment given in Luke 10. “The Christian must take seriously the whole of Christ's command;” it is not a suggestion but an order. Whether we believe it or not, we cannot have substantial relations with people apart from a relation with God and vice versa. One flows out of the other. “Our ties to one another cannot be isolated from our shared relationship to Him, nor our relationship to Him from our ties to one another. Our relations to others cannot be right unless we see those others in their relation to God. Through others He comes to us, and we only really find others when we see them in Him.” For God so loved the whole world. This is why He offered His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins, not just for a handful of people but for each and every one of us. He does not see us through our faults, failures, and shortcomings, but He sees us through the blood of the perfect Lamb that was slain and with eyes of love. He sets the example of how we are to see others – with His love. “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13 NIV).

The Human System and Spiritual Formation

All human nature is made up of the six previously mentioned factors. No human being is without them; they are essential to our make-up. For believers, these aspects are just as important for our spiritual lives in ensuring we make our focal point God alone. When our systems align with God, we demonstrate our love for Him in every area of our lives. Our thoughts are of those things which are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, excellent, and praiseworthy

(Philip. 4:8 KJV); our feelings bring about gratitude causing us to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise (Ps. 100:4 NIV); with our hearts, we trust in the Lord and lean not on our own understanding (Prov. 3:5 NIV); we offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God in true worship (Rom. 12:1 NIV); we seek the Lord with all our soul; and socially, we are kind, compassionate, and forgiving to others (Eph. 4:32 NIV). When God is the center of our attention, there is a desire to lavish Him with all the love we can muster. We may not and will not always get it right, but the desire to please Him and show our appreciation will be present.

In the natural sense, when people show us love, it is typically natural to reciprocate that love. So, as God pours out His great, unfailing love on us, it should also be natural to return that love to Him. One way we do that is by loving what and who He loves, even if the love is not reciprocated. His command is to love – with no stipulations. The command is not, “love as long as they love you too.” It is simply to love! As we learn more about who God is and what His very essence entails, we come to understand the amazing love He has for His people. As His children, not only are we to show forth our love for Him, but we are to demonstrate love toward His children – not minimally, but with all aspects of our human systems, with total involvement and commitment. “One should place no limitations upon the love for the neighbor, but instead a person should love to do an abundance of good for his fellow being as he does for himself.” By doing so, we demonstrate an outpouring of love for God. The good Samaritan is a prime example of loving your neighbor as yourself. He could have passed by the wounded man just as the priest and Levite had. Instead, he stopped to help the one who was oppressed, not thinking of himself but others. “The Samaritan was inconvenienced not only in his schedule, but also in his finances.” He totally involved and committed himself to care for a man he did not know by putting into practice Luke 6:31, “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you” (AMP).

Our soul, “which is the deepest level of unity (or disunity) in a person’s life” is the factor that helps us engage in personal relationships with others. In the book of Psalm, we constantly find David commanding his soul to bless the Lord (103:1 KJV), praise the Lord (146:1 NIV), rejoice in the Lord (35:9 NIV), yearn for the Lord (84:2 NIV), sing to the Lord (108:1 NIV), pant for the Lord (42:1 NIV); and to thirst for the Lord (42:2 NIV). Perhaps David understood the importance of having his soul be in submission to God in order to ensure his personal relationships with God and others remained intact. Each dimension can work for us or against us “depending upon the condition it is in,” which is contingent upon the heart. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Prov. 4:23 NIV). If the heart is in order, the whole person will be in order. However, if the heart is not in order, the person will not be either.

These two commandments, to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor, are sometimes easier said than done. It takes the entire human system to accomplish these tasks, and even still we cannot do it of our own effort. We have but one hope to achieve it and that is to trust and depend on our Savior, Jesus Christ, to cause our thoughts, feelings, wills, bodies, social contexts, and souls to align with God and be led by the Holy Spirit in demonstrating expressions of love to our Heavenly Father and His creation. God knows our hearts and He sees when we strive to obey His commandments even when we fail. Failure leads us to the Cross to seek forgiveness and grace and to realign our systems with God.