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1 Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, 2 so that you and your children and your children's children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7 Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, 9 and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:1-9 NRSV)
Wondrous and Blessed is the heart where the Lord lives! Is your heart, dear Friend, such a heart? I pray that it is; pray to have God open it to Him so that He may reside in you and grant you peace, joy, and guidance. May we pray for all who hurt today; for those who desire healing, and those who wish peace would make a home in their hearts. Pray for one another; pray for yourselves.
What would your home give away about you to a perceptive visitor? What do you have as folks enter your home? What decor dominates your walls? What magazines or books share space on your coffee table? What conversation items shape your chit chats with visitors? We come to the family foundational teaching for the Jews as they prepared to enter the land that God was giving to them. It was meant to cement in them their identity as God's people; the core was that God was their God, and they were God's people. The promise from God was that if they accepted and lived by God's decrees and commandments, they would be blessed with long, fruitful lives in this new land. They were entering into a land that was known for it being a land flowing with milk and honey; which is a suave way of saying that the land not only possessed the basics of life and extras beyond. They were about to become neighbors with people who did not yet know God, or even of God. Their mission was to make God real so they would come to know and love Him as well.
The foundational commandment, later called the greatest and first commandment, is from verses 4 and 5, which Jesus knew and loved, and shared with the religious leader who asked which of the commandments was the greatest. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." It is an awesome commandment. Love is the driving force behind this commandment, not fear. Many world religions were known for the great fear they had towards their gods. Those who believed in volcano gods knew only to fear the wrath of the god with each eruption. The list is long. Few, if any, stressed love as a reponse towards their god. It was to fear the god enough to live right out of fear the god would kill them. This commandment stresses the need for believers to love God because God loves us. And our love-response has to be whole-hearted, whole-minded, whole-strength, committed love. It was expected that the entire being of a believer had to be focused on God. Do you remember the first time you felt a special something for someone? Did you not write that person's name on your paper bookcovers that the school supplied so protect their books? Did you not take a knife and carve their initials on a tree, perhaps with your initials under a plus sign? And once you started dating/courting, did you not spend all the time you could trying to think about them, talk to them, and see them? This was the kind of affection and attention this commandment is trying to elicit from each believer, but this love is truly serious because it is eternal!
The words that follow verse 6 continue the teaching; "Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart." The heart is source of all emotions, and if we keep love of God first in our hearts, that will translate into fruituf actions and blessings because of the source. The next is the need to teach this commandment of love to our children, by reciting them and talking about them when you are at home and when you are away; as you lie down for sleep, and as you arise in the morning. Verse 8 teaches something that even today the orthodox of the Jews took literally and formed leather boxes in which to place the written commandment, which they placed "as an emblem on your forehead," and printed the words on the doorposts of their home and on their gates. The core of each home needed to be God, and love for God.
The presence of God in each heart and home should be a change-maker, both for the individual and the family. We can decorate our homes however we like but unless evidence of a changed life is shown, it's only for show. I think of the bumper stickers or religious symbols some cars bear and the way the vehicle is driven shows nothing of a true spiritual being whose life has left behind evil and bad intentions. I think back to a story shared with me by a pastor who was living in the Austin area and he had been invited to preach at a neighboring church at a Sunday night worship service (remember those? Kids ask your grandparents!). On the drive there, he changed lanes in a rapid way and the driver he cut off, sped up alongside him and shared a finger with him (Kids close your eyes! Okay, open them now) and quickly cut him off as he had been cut. And again (Kids, close your eyes again) the finger. When my friend arrived at the church, the senior pastor welcomed him gladly and then said, "Come over here, I want you to meet our associate pastor." And into the office the two walked and there sat finger man! He could not find a place in which to hide and my friend could not hide his smile. Friends, we should let our actions give away the presence of God in our lives, not the crosses we wear or the t-shirts with religious sayings. Be a genuine believer in God whose lives have truly been changed for the better.
PRAYER: Loving Father, we confess that we are not perfect and we sometimes do not hide our dislike and even hatred towards others or the actions of others. Forgive us and give us new opportunities to truly live as those whose lives have been blessed by God in wondrous and joyous ways. Give us this day a huge helping of love from You; please place it in our hearts so that we can share it with others. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Find new ways to show God's love; but not to show off but to help out.
Receive my blessings of peace and love,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
