Joel M Bradshaw

4“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7You 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. 8You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.–Deuteronomy 6

So let’s just begin with he fact that Jesus used this verse as the answer to the ‘Which law is greatest?’ question (Matthew 22:37-38). We therefore pay attention. This verse invites the either/or rather than the both/and. Either I am loving God this way or I am not. This is why God chose to use the word ‘love’. Love is an either/or kind of thing. I can’t love my wife the same way I love anyone else. That love for her is precious and exclusive. This makes love less an emotion and more akin to an allegiance or a conviction or a choice. It’s an old school DC-Talk rap, but love is a verb. So this sounds like more of a covenant commitment and less like an emotional experience.

These verses speak of my three favorite ‘I’ words. I use them all the time as I journey with others. These three words will help unpack matters today. At least they help me to stay on target.

INTENTIONAL. It requires intentionality to do or commit ALL of something. I occasionally watch eating challenges online where the guy has to eat the entire meal in a certain amount of time. Professional eaters actually use strategy and are intentional about how they attack the meal. All of your heart. That part of you that makes decisions and holds convictions. Your motivations. You intentionally align that inner you to choosing God. All your soul. You could say that this is the part of you that is directed to look outside of yourself. It’s the Luke Skywalker gazing out at the sky and longing for somewhere beyond his planet. It’s the part of you not truly satisfied by the here and now. God put an orientation towards the eternal within you for a reason (Ecclesiastes 3:11). That part of your being that uniquely can interact with God and can ponder greater purposes in fact does. All your strength. What you work for and strain for should ultimately seek after God. What you put your efforts towards should honor your commitment to God. Love is an intentional thing. You could only imagine intentionality now that love is proclaimed to God.

INFLUENCE. Moses commanded parents to be modeling this love of God to their children. Using their time with them to speak and instruct. To have healthy conversations at home and away. So many people today want to be known as an influencer. God expects you to influence others, too. But as an outflow of your loving commitment to Him.

INVEST. Bind it on your forehead, on your hand, on the doorpost of your house. This person sees his entire thought life as fully committed to God. Same with his actions, what he does with his hands. The inner you and the outer you are to give God exclusive glory. The doorpost is a reminder that when I leave the house, I represent. The gates remind me that when I come home and enter back in, I honor. I invest in the inner me, the outer me, and in my home. They are to love God with an all-in commitment.

God expects you. The inner you and the outer you. The public you and the private you. The intentional you. God’s first and greatest commandment is to have this kind of relationship with him. There can logically be NO area in your life that you reserve behind for yourself. The Hebrew preposition says ‘all’ for a reason.–JMB