Deut. 10:12-22
Heb. 4:11-16
John 3:22-36
Deut. 10:12-22
12So now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? Only to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13and to keep the commandments of the LORD your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being. 14Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the LORD your God, the earth with all that is in it 15yet the LORD set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today. 16Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer. 17For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, 18who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. 19You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20You shall fear the LORD your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear. 21He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen. 22Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons; and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven.
Doesn’t today’s reading sound similar to Jesus’ response to the Pharisees who asked him “what is the greatest commandment?” He says,“The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”(Mark 12:28-31)
On the surface it sounds simple: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Yet how many of us are really, fully that dedicated? For me, at least, the reality is that ‘life’ gets in the way of remembering to Fear, Love, and Serve God all the time.
Fearing God doesn’t mean you are terrified (although we should be a bit afraid of the Creator of all things), instead it means that you are in Awe of God and his might, power, and esp. of God’s Love. The fact that the Creator of all things desires intimate relationship, really is a bit frightening when you take it seriously!How do we respond to God’s love? What we return I make? I read a book by M. Scott Peck years ago by that title and recall that he argued that our response is in giving of self because there is no way to earn the Love that is already so freely given. Self-giving in turn leads to service.
R.L. Sharpe wrote:
Each of us is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass, a book of rules;
And each must make ere life has flown
A stumbling block or a stepping stone.
There are of course as many ways to serve God. Each of us is called to our own response to this commandment. Some are teachers, others will serve in the mission field at home or far away, still others will visit the sick or those in prison. We don’t have to do grand and noteworthy things, either. A smile or cup of soup is as much a ministry and service to God as building a hospital. All that is important is the giving of your heart, soul, mind, and strength as you serve.
For your journal: Write down the verse from Deuteronomy or the one from Mark. Read it through a couple of times. Then list the ways in which your life fulfills each part of the commandment:
How do you Love the Lord your God with your Heart?
…with your Mind?
…with your Soul?
…with your Strength?
