Embracing God’s Love || Deuteronomy 6:4-5 || Manna for the Mind #11

Welcome to Day 11 of my “Manna for the Mind” devotional series! This series takes a passage of scripture (typically 1-3 verses) and builds its understanding through its context and connecting scripture. Doing this helps us understand what the Bible truly teaches us. 

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

4          “Listen, O Israel!” The Lord is our God, and the Lord alone.

5          And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.

The Hebrew religion is known as monotheistic. This means that followers of this religion believe in only one God. This was important to bring to attention because the Israelites were about to enter a land filled with people who believed in many gods they worshiped in many ways. God wanted the Israelites to focus on him and him alone. The other religions/worship stylings/gods/idols can feel tempting to learn about and adapt to their lives. Still, God commanded them to keep their eyes on him. They were his chosen people to fulfill his mission for the world, and he didn’t want them to defect to the other religions. 

Today, some people prefer to trust many different “gods.” What are considered the “gods” of today? Beauty, education, money, entertainment, self, and more. These may not seem like “gods” when we talk about the Christian God, but how often are we prioritizing or worshipping these areas of society instead of God himself. We look at the beauty industry and its impact on US culture and recognize the millions of dollars we put into it to beautify ourselves with makeup, designer clothes, elective surgeries, and more. There’s legitimacy to getting some of these items for certain people. Still, I’m talking about those who intentionally invest in this industry to inflate their ego, pride, and self-identity. There’s no other reason for it other than their vanity.

What are you putting your trust in that’s above God currently? Is it wealth? Are you holding on to your money for fear of losing it instead of spending it in the areas in which God wants you to invest? Is it stuff that provides no need for you right now? Are you holding that because you feel like you have to instead of being willing to part ways with it and give it to someone who needs it? What are we worshiping in place of God?

Jesus gives us the keys to love our God. He says again what Deuteronomy 6:5 states in Mark 12:29-31.

Mark 12:29-31

29        Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.

30        And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’

31        The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.

I’ve talked in previous messages about what heart, soul, mind, and strength refer to in this context, so let’s do a quick review:

• Heart is the Greek word kardia (kar-dee’-ah), which refers to the affective center of our being and the capacity of moral preference. This does NOT refer to the organ.
• Soul is the Greek word psuche (psoo-khay’), which refers to the breath of life God gave us when he created humans.
• Mind is the Greek word dianoia (dee-an’-oy-ah), which refers to moving from one side of an issue to the other to reach a balanced conclusion. It’s incorporating both sides of an argument to reach a meaningful and personal conclusion.
• Strength is the Greek word ischus (is-khoos’), which refers to the force needed to overcome immediate resistance.

Our morals, life, reasoning, and strength must all be dedicated to loving God. Love is the Greek word agapao (ag-ap-ah’-o), which refers to embracing God’s will and obeying them through His power. It’s about actively doing what God prefers with God through His power and direction.

As mentioned earlier, when you love God completely and care for others as you care for yourself, you have fulfilled the intent of the Ten Commandments and other Old Testament laws. Jesus says these commands, “Love God and love others,” summarize all God’s laws. These things should rule our thoughts, decisions, and actions.

One of the things I always talk about with this passage is the concept of making sure you love yourself because if you don’t love yourself well, how can you love others. I want to change that narrative, though. I realize that people who struggle with loving themselves love others more intensely to ensure that those people don’t feel the struggle they do. They don’t feel like they deserve the love they give to others. God’s love is for all, regardless of whether we deserve it. We often let our emotions dictate how much love we feel we deserve, but our feelings don’t tell us that. Our situations don’t get to tell us that. Those around us don’t get to tell us that. Why? Because we’re human. All humans are deserving of love, regardless of anything. Humans were created and designed to love, especially as God loves.

I know that the Bible and religion teach us to serve others before ourselves and to put others first. Still, we’ve pushed this so much that we don’t teach people how to care for themselves spiritually, physically, and mentally. How do we change this narrative? It starts with asking, “Are you treating yourself the way you treat others?” We reverse the golden rule to focus on how you treat yourself. We’re good at taking care of others because we need to ensure that we don’t feel the frustration, heartache, and anger we feel when we don’t receive that love. Now it’s time to treat ourselves how we treat those close to us. If you’re uncertain about what to do, ask yourself what best demonstrates love for God and others. How can you show yourself the love that God has for you? Let’s reflect on that today. Amen.

Father God, we thank you for your gracious, never-ending love. A love that never goes away no matter what we do or how far we stray from you. Help us to recognize and understand the power and impact of this love. Share with us ways to share this love with each other and in our relationship with you. It’s in your name, we pray. Amen.