Deuteronomy 6

Deuteronomy 6

Moses uses the next section of his speech in Deuteronomy 6 to specifically address the idea of loving God. The main theme we have seen throughout much of the Pentateuch and especially in these last few chapters is that of obedience. Moses brings it altogether in this chapter by speaking about how we are to love God. Deuteronomy 6:5 is a very popular verse, commonly referred to as the Greatest Commandment. Most people probably know this verse from the Gospels when Peter asks Jesus what the greatest commandment is and He responds by quoting this verse. Loving God is the greatest thing we can do in this life, for from this one action comes everything else we do. Without loving God, how can we expect to love others? We are called to spread the Gospel to all the nations so that everyone might know about Jesus and learn what it means to follow Him. But how can we do that if we do no love the one of which we are speaking?

To live for God is something radical. He demands a lot from us. For one, He requires perfection. Since we cannot live up to those standards due to our fallen nature, He provided a way for us through His Son Jesus. He gave up His only Son in order that we might come to Him. That act in itself demands a great response from our part. How can we sit around doing nothing and claim that we have come to know this God? Quite simply, we cannot. Therefore it is imperative that we decide to follow Jesus, carefully following all of His commands. This cannot happen if we do not first love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. In other words, all that we do must be done out of our love for God. If it is done for any other reason, then we are working out of vain.

Moses goes on to show how obedience ties into this love by stressing the importance of knowing God’s commands. To be obedient requires knowing what to be obedient in. God did not require obedience and leave us wondering how that should look. Instead, He gave us clear instructions on how to live a holy life. He gave us His law, so that we would know what He expected from our lives. Moses told the Israelites to meditate on this law day and night, to write it in various places in which they would come in contact with it during the day, to make it a vital part of their daily life. As humans, we are prone to forget things. Therefore, we might hear the instructions the first time, but within minutes, hours, or days, we have forgotten all that was told to us. Therefore, Moses expressed the importance of reading it daily so that we would know exactly what God wants us to do. We fail so many times at memorizing God’s Word, but sadly we also fail at reading it. The Bible is God’s love letter to us; it is God speaking to us. It was not just written for people 1000’s of years ago. It was written for us as well. Therefore it is crucial that we pick it up daily and read. Memorization is important and come later, but so many of us need to just learn to read it again. For those of us who are reading the Scripture daily, then pick a verse, a passage, or even a book, and commit it to memory. That is one great way to always have God’s Word with you.

Finally, there is a generation coming behind everyone of us. There are future generations who need to know what it means to follow God and serve Him. They will be looking to us for guidance in how to do this. We must make it a priority to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength so that we can show them what it means to follow God, fulfilling the Great Commission so that people from every nation might know Him and know what it means to follow Him. We can testify to them about how God has worked in our lives so that they too can know that He is a God who can be trusted 100%. He will always be there for Him if they will just commit their lives to Him.

Matt