with all your heart

Saturday, November 24, 2007: Psalm 70; Deuteronomy 6-11

"Hear O Israel, the 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 strength."
(Deuteronomy 6:4)

Yes it's a long reading, but a critical section of Deuteronomy. This is the section from which Jesus fought off the enemy in the wilderness - the second Adam withstanding temptation and regaining paradise (according to John Milton). Again I encourage you to read it and soak it in. Note the words "heart" and "love", especially in relation to law-keeping...

Secondly, I was struck by the repetition of the command to teach our children these words, this way to life, this loving with all our hearts - yes, it takes a village, and Sunday School is a fine thing, but God's way is that parents model it, pray it, and teach it to their kids day in and day out, rising and lying down, walking in the way, wherever, whenever... (And again, I suggest that the church would do better spending time and energy helping parents with this task than taking it over for them.)

[I will post our next season's readings, and have them available next Wednesday evening..]

"May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you!May those who love your salvation say evermore, God is great!"
(Psalm 70:4)