Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NIV)
This passage is known among Jews as the Shema and is considered by many to be the most important part of their Scriptures. And when Jesus is asked to identify the greatest commandment, this is where he came first. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
As a part of the Shema, Moses gives some interesting instructions. These commands that he was giving to them were to be on their hearts, taught to their children, and discussed wherever one might go or do. And finally, they were to be carried in prominent places on their person and in their homes. In short, these commands were to be the center of their life.
Delight Yourself in the Word of God
However, as believers in Christ, and under the new covenant, we might be tempted to pass over these instructions. But I believe that would be a mistake. While I might not focus too much on the Old Testament Law, I do have the words of Jesus and his apostles. And I should give them the same place in my life as the Israelites were called to do with the Law.
To keep his words in my heart. To teach them to my children. Talk about them with other believers wherever I find myself. Don’t be ashamed to wear prominent symbols of my faith. Let his word fill my home. And not just sitting on the coffee table collecting dust. But open, read, and discussed frequently.
Make God’s word, the Bible, an integral part of your daily life.
