Notes of Faith June 27, 2024

Notes of Faith June 27, 2024

Your Whole Self

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

Deuteronomy 6:5

In Jewish worship services, the Shema is the most important prayer. Shema is the transliteration of the first Hebrew word in Deuteronomy 6:4, translated as “hear”: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” The entire prayer—Deuteronomy 6:4-9—was given as an instruction by Moses to remind the Israelites of the importance of ordering their lives according to God’s laws.

Deut 6:4-9

4 "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

When a teacher of the law asked Jesus which was the most important of the commandments, He quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel...you shall love the Lord your God” with all your heart, soul, and strength. This commandment, Jesus said, is the first of all the commandments, no doubt because it is so all-encompassing. Heart, soul, and strength is another way of saying one’s whole self; love God with all your being. Paul’s exhortation to be a “living sacrifice” to God is the same idea (Romans 12:1).

Is there any part of your life today that doesn’t reflect love for God? Ask Him to make you sensitive to ways to love Him more.

A man’s spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God.

C. S. Lewis

John 14:15

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

Do you love Jesus? Then . . .

Pastor Dale