7 - 11 - 18 Living Wholeheartedly

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In the Gospel of Matthew today we hear the famous accusation by the Pharisees, “He drives out demons by the prince of demons.”

Jesus’s response is one of the more famous parts of scripture, widely quoted by people as prominent as Abraham Lincoln when referring to whether the Union could continue as half-slave, half-free. The quote is actually not included in the reading from Matthew but the popular translation is “a house divided against itself, cannot stand.”

The obvious meaning in the context of the story is that it would make no sense for Jesus to cast out demons if he served Satan as they would be his compatriots. But I think it’s not too difficult to see how we might delve deeper into the meaning of this statement.

To be whole-hearted, sincere in one’s efforts, is sometimes a difficult thing to find in those around us or ourselves. We all have work we consider drudgery and thereby treat as drudgery. Part of what this passage calls us to is living passionately. If we’ve been brought to a certain place in our life it is on our faith journey, so let’s treat it as such. Let’s do our math homework with the energy that comes from the joy of being alive, relish yardwork as we thank God for our able-bodied nature, and listen to older relatives ramble with the attention and respect that we would like to receive when we speak to our juniors.

While he is also speaking of moral division, I believe Jesus is also saying that whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well. After all, if part of the house that is our body is engaged in some task, but our mind is wandering, we are a house divided. We are not giving of our full nature to the task at hand and we are thereby failing in our vocation at that moment.

Earlier I mentioned being whole-hearted, now perhaps this was because I went to an arts school with many affluent kids for high school and a catholic K - 8, but I don’t recall seeing much of that unashamed, innocent and beautiful, dedication past sixth grade. How often do we meet people unafraid to be embarrassed by their degree of interest in their work. People hold back, they do not wish to expose themselves to being demeaned. Rather than gush about how fulfilling their new job is and how they feel they are really making a difference, they may describe it as something they could give or take, for fear their interlocutor will remind them of the job’s relative unimportance.

I want to resolve to be whole-hearted, to believe in what I am doing, whatever that is. I want to forever be the person that encourages an excitement about their vocation from other people. To make an effort to turn around a culture of repression of enthusiasm to one that abounds in energy and positivity should be a daily goal of mine.

This does remind me of a consequence of the growth and fixed mindsets from Mindset. The fixed mindset will devalue the task if they are unsuccessful and avoid tasks they may fail at. They attempt to protect themselves from ridicule or a devaluing in others’ evaluations of their ability. The growth mindset, however, blends perfectly with this principle of whole-heartedness as well as, more obviously, the Christian idea of constant improvement. In a growth mindset it is no shame to fail, so people will gladly share their failures with the enthusiasm one would hear of a success from a fixed mindset person. Not that one should hear much enthusiasm from a fixed mindset person over a success, as if they succeeded it was only because of who they are, they were supposed to. I’d highly recommend this book to anyone, but especially people of faith as it helps cultivate a very Christ-conducive state of mind.