Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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 God’s people to be prepared for witness

Deuteronomy 6: 1-12
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. (Vs 4-5)

When reading Deuteronomy Chapter 5, we can read the presentation of the 10 commandments. But it has always come across our minds one time or another, out of these 10 commandments which one is the most important? You and I are not the only ones who has thought that! Famously, we know an expert of the law came and asked Jesus the same question in Matthew Chapter 22: 36-40. Jesus responds by citing the verses in this meditation. How can we use this simple command in our arsenal to be a faithful witness? Let us delve right into the passage and read the 3 ways that we are called to love the Lord.

Heart: The first call to love the Lord is with the heart. At first thought we might be thinking, we really think with our brains, why does He mention our heart? In most versions of the Bible the heart has been mentioned 826 times while the brain has been mentioned only once. In the Bible the heart is considered the seat of life or strength. Throughout the Bible, God has always called for the inside out approach, that is a relationship that starts from the inside. Jesus has said in Luke 6:45: “A good man says good things. These come from the good that is stored up in his heart”. God has called out the Israelites and told them to love Him from the heart and Jesus has echoed this statement. We are to have our desires, will, emotions and even our thoughts all for the love of our Lord. The heart symbolizes everything internal and with it we are declaring the love of the Lord. 

Soul: Like the heart, God is calling us to love Him with everything internal. The soul in this context refers to one’s whole being as a living person. In Genesis 2:7 we read, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul”. This living soul should love the Lord with the way we talk, how we utilize our talents etc. Our entire being is to display how we love our Lord.

Strength: Loving the lord in strength means stepping out in faith. This often means stepping out of your comfort zone. It is doing things that are right even when people around us don’t understand. It is speaking up when we see injustice. It is even doing things that are right and good even when we don’t see any kind of reward.
 
Prayer
Dear God, help us each day to remember the ultimate sacrifice of love that You had done for us. Help us each day to love You with our heart, soul and strength. Help us to be a faithful witness for You.
 
Thought for the day
In reality, loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength is simply a response. For we love because He first loved us.
 
Oshin D Mathew
Carmel MTC, Boston

Christian Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the Mar Thoma Church

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