Do You Hear

DO YOU HEAR?

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Deuteronomy is the last book of the PENTATEUCH or the books of Moses. The word Deuteronomy means: the repetition of the law or the second giving of the law. In the previous books the law was given to Moses and here he tells the people a second time what is contained in it. But in this passage it would seem that everything is summed up in that he tells the people to Love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy might. He tells them to Love God with all their being. But he didn’t stop there he goes on to tell them to teach this to their children day in and day out. Not only that but to bind them on their hand and on their head, also to write them on the posts of their house and upon their gates. I think this was so they would look at their hands and remember the command also as they looked they saw the law in front of them. Then he instructed them to teach their children day in and day out of this same thing. Put it on their houses to remind them when they came into the house. I would think this was important then and also is important today.

You might say we live under grace and not the law which is correct but even in Jesus’ day he saw the importance of loving God with everything within us.

Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

We need to have this settled that we love God with everything within us and then love our neighbor as ourselves. When we have this settled then teach it to our children and young people.

Rhonda Vincent had a song a few years ago that had a lyric “Oh you don't love God, if you don't love your neighbor”, never a more truer statement for sure. John tells us this:

1John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Love God and your neighbor and HAVE A GREAT DAY!