Jesus said that the greatest commandment was a variation of Deuteronomy 6: 5. It gives us guidance on how we are to love God. This daily devotional looks at both the verse in Deuteronomy and Jesus’ response to a question regarding the greatest commandment.
Nuggets
- God loves us so much He wants to restore the relationship with us.
- We are to give God the top spot in our hearts and lives.
- Our soul is what is going to remain after we die.
- God knows we need strength to resist Satan’s temptation.
- We will use our minds to decide to ask Jesus to be our Savior and Redeemer and give control of our lives over to our Sovereign God.
As disciples, we are called to love God. Some searchers may question how we are supposed to do that, especially in today’s society.
There are a couple of words in Deuteronomy 6: 5 that could potentially trip up people holding to the worldview. Must and love are two of those words. How are we to love God?
Let's Put It into Context
Deuteronomy is where Moses restated the laws that God had given the Israelites. He thought it was very important that they remembered as they stood on the border to enter the Promised Land.
One day, Jesus was asked by a lawyer what was the greatest commandment. His answer was based off of this verse. To me, this was a great way to show that He did not come to “… abolish the Law or the Prophets; [He did] not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Mt. 5: 17 ESV).
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It is interesting that the Good News Translation translates fulfill as “… make their teachings come true” (Mt. 5: 17 GNT). Another translation says, “… give them their full meaning” (Mt. 5: 17 CEV). I would say, “All of the above.”
Jesus’ restatement and expansion of Deuteronomy 6: 5 (and we’ll talk about that in the Making the Connections section) showed how He fulfilled and clarified the law.
Love
“And you must love the LORD your God …” (Deut. 6: 5 NLT)
Love is an intense feeling of deep affection. God’s love is unconditional, or intense feelings of deep affection without limits or circumstances.
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It always amazes me that God wants us to love Him. He wants us to worship Him. He wants the relationship with us.
No, God doesn’t need us. Who are we compared to Him? Nobodies.
God loves us so much He wants to restore the relationship with us. Jesus didn’t want heaven without us.
What a Beautiful Name
Vocalist: Elaine Guthals
Pianist: Chris Vieth
How do we know this? “And you must love the LORD your God …” (Deut. 6: 5 NLT emphasis added). That indicates possession. We possess His love.
So, God wants our love. This is because God is love (I Jn. 4: 8).
This doesn’t mean God won’t judge us. He will. This doesn’t mean He isn’t vengeful because He is.
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The love that God can show toward us is not like any love we have seen here on hearth. We may think a certain person is loving, but God is infinitely more loving than that person. That makes it hard for us to comprehend that kind of love.
Well, let me take that back — sorta. Our example of God’s love is Jesus. No, none of us were alive back in the day to actually see His example. We can see that example in God’s Word.
We can love God for Who He is. That opens the door for us to want to obey His laws and commandments.
Heart
“And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart …” (Deut. 6: 5 NLT)
We’ve talked about the significance of the heart a couple of times. God’s peace, mercy and love is at our center. That is our foundation.
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Jesus is the Word (Jn. 1: 1) that we are to hide in our hearts (Ps. 119: 11). Because we have that faith, we are saved. We believe it with all of our hearts. Faith is a gift from God that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others.
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We are to love God with all our hearts — not a worldly love, but a godly love.
We are to give God the top spot in our hearts and lives. He doesn’t want to share us with things of this world.
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Soul
“And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul …” (Deut. 6: 5 NLT)
Sometimes, do we think heart and soul are interchangeable? Jeremiah 29: 13 says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (NIV).
But we are also told we are supposed to seek God with all our souls. “But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 4: 29 NIV).
The Holman Bible Dictionary says, “Body and soul or spirit are not opposite terms, but rather terms which supplement one another to describe aspects of the inseparable whole person.”
Resource
Our soul is what is going to remain after we die. It will find itself either in paradise with Jesus or in hell with Satan.
Strength
“And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength” (Deut. 6: 5 NLT)
Sometimes, the word strength is translated as might. We are to love God with all our might.
God is not looking for us to go part way. He is not calling us to a part-time relationship. He is not calling us to a conditional relationship (although there are certain requirements). God wants us to be all in.
We’ve talked about strength before. God knows we need strength to resist Satan’s temptation. We just have to make sure it is His strength, and not our own.
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This is talking about a strong love. We need a strong love for God so that we can resist Satan. We have to be strong enough to conquer our fears.
We can’t be timid. If we are, Satan will walk right over us and cause us to sin.
This is also talking about strength so that we can serve our Father in whatever ways He call us. We’ve got to be strong enough to handle all the disappointments
Making the Connections
Okay, remember at the very beginning of this devotion, we said that Jesus restated and expanded on this verse when answering the lawyer as to which commandment was the greatest? Let’s take a look at that now.
Mind
- “Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind’” (Mt. 22: 37 NLT)
- “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength” (Mk. 12:30 NLT)
According to Matthew’s account, Jesus left out strength but added mind. Mark’s account included all four. (Luke’s account in 10: 27 said the lawyer gave the answer, but it also had all four.)
Wow! Don’t we value our minds! To us, that is what makes us individuals. Yes, we generally look different, but we don’t have a lot of control over that.
Our minds house our thoughts and beliefs. It is where we understand. We will use our minds to decide to ask Jesus to be our Savior and Redeemer and give control of our lives over to our Sovereign God.
Proverbs 3: 5 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding” (NLT). We aren’t supposed to figure out all of the mysteries.
Must
But look at the third word of Deuteronomy 6: 5: must. We probably have issues with that on two levels.
The first level is we generally don’t want anyone to tell us we must do anything. We want to make up our own minds.
The second level is the must may confuse people since we’ve talked free will in the past. How can we reconcile dictatorship with independence?
We can look at it two ways. Once we have exercised our free will and chosen Jesus as our Savior and God as our Sovereign Lord, this becomes Commandment #1.
The other way to look at it is this will be the criteria by which the sheep and the goats are judged (Mt. 25: 31-46). When this earth ends (and it will end), Jesus will judge the nations (Rev. 20: 12-13) based on whether our names are in the book of life or not.
So, yep. In the end, it is going to be a must for everyone.
How Do We Apply This?
First off, we need to love God with every fiber of our being — all of our energy, all of our mental capacities. God must be given priority in our lives.
Second, we are to love each other. But not just the lovable people.
Remember Matthew 25: 40? It says, “… Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (RSV).
Do you remember who the “leasts” were? Hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, and criminal. Weren’t they who the Jews of Jesus’ day considered the lowlife? Didn’t contact with sick people make them unclean? The hungry and thirsty were probably considered by some synonymous to beggars.
If we can love like this, we would be less selfish. The world has less of a pull for us.
We have learned to give God glory. Good thing. That is what we will be doing in heaven.
Father. You loved us first. Lord, we give our lives to You. May we always put You first. Help us to love all people as You do. Amen.
What do you think?
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He doesn’t need us loved us enough to send Jesus. That should be enough, but we need affirmation daily.
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