“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Deuteronomy 6:5
Moses stated this “Greatest Commandment” to Israel after restating the Ten Commandments. This verse is part of the “Shema”, which means hear or listen in Hebrew. However the deeper meaning of the word is pay deep attention, understand, and respond with obedience and action. Here is this verse in context in the Book of Deuteronomy:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, 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. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:5-9
God gave the command, and then told Israel how to follow it. They were told to teach the command to their children, think about the command all of the time, and write it where they would see it regularly.
Jesus repeated this commandment, calling it the Greatest Commandment in Matthew 22:37, and Mark 12:30. Jesus adds the commandment “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” to the Greatest Commandment in each of these New Testament instances.
It makes sense that God would expect us to follow these commandments in the New Testament the same way that he commanded Israel to follow them in Deuteronomy 6. We should be teaching the Word of God to our children, thinking about the Word constantly, and have it written where we will see it often.
What does that look like today?
We should daily be praying meaningfully on God’s Word. We should read the Bible and study scripture deeply every day. We should take every opportunity to teach God’s Word to our children. Finally, we should study the works of Christian thinkers and interact with other thoughtful Christians regularly.
I will be sharing some ideas and resources I have found beneficial in future posts.