By -
TIE THEM AS SYMBOLS ON YOUR HANDS...

...Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:5-9 NIV

I'm sure you've heard the first part of the passage I posted above. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart..." etc. What do you think of when you hear this? It sounds pretty simple, right?

It's actually quite difficult. Perhaps something that has been attempted many times, and only achieved once.

A friend I was talking to was teaching me about the many things we as Christians face: the challenges that get between us and God... sin, the world, and Satan.

Sin and Satan are the more obvious ones... we give in to their temptations and go against what God wants for us.

But the world? Why is the world something that could get our way of loving God??? Jesus tells us that we will face troubles in the world. That the world opposes Him, too.

Believe it or not, the world  and our nature actually opposed Jesus. The world is the opposite of Him, it is greedy, proud, in conflict, and selfish.

But Deuteronomy tells us to love God will our entire being-- our entire soul. All of our hearts, and every ounce of strength we are blessed with. What is consuming your soul? What inhabits your heart? And what are you putting your strength towards?

Call on Jesus, and follow Him into the light. As Deuteronomy 6:8 says, "tie them [His commandments] as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads..." Make Him your everything, because you won't regret it.

Dear God,

Please help me follow you completely. I'll never do it perfectly, but help me put my strength into following You the best I can. I know that I'll need Your help to do it, but I'm trusting in You.

Amen.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The World that We Live In- A Prayer

By -
Brandon Flowers, the lead singer of The Killers, included a beautiful lyric in one of his songs, "The World that We Live In." This is the world that we live in, and I feel myself get tired. Boy, is this ever true. I just started a new job this summer, which is so exciting, but in all of that excitement I have been so busy adjusting to working life that I really haven't had time to poke my head out and look up at the world around me.  In some respects, that's a good thing. I have been able to temporarily shield myself from state of our nation and the hurtful rhetoric being used against the least of these. However, when I do have time, or if there is something that is just too big to ignore, it hits me like a train. I am suddenly, instantly aware of just how broken our world is, and how deeply we need our Lord Jesus to come. Maranatha . And, when I get overwhelmed… When my thoughts are too vast and too incomprehensible and I have a hard time sleeping at night,...
Read more
By -
Image
Daniel 9-12 Read these final chapters of Daniel now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ !!!!!CHRISTIANITY MYTHS REVEALED!!!! I think a lot of times, Christianity comes across as some strict religion for church-goers and saints. You have to give alllll your time and alllll your money away to the church, and you have to stay clear of alllll sins to get into heaven. But I'm here to say THAT'S NOT ALWAYS THE CASE. Don't get me wrong-- it's not easy to be a follower of Jesus. We have to make sacrifices of time and energy to set ourselves different from the rest of the world. It's hard sometimes to do what Jesus wants us to do instead of what we want to do. But all of these things are easily payed for with the grace, peace, and love that only our God can give. Anyway-- I know that there's this myth that Christians have really strict laws to abide by. That we have to live a perfect life, and blah blah blah. In today's...
Read more
By -
Jeremiah 25-27 Read these now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at www.bible.com . JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED! It's a cheesy line. But it's simple, and true, and completely supported by the devotion today. The reading we read was about a choice God was giving to His people-- they could listen to Him or they couldn't... and most of them chose not to. But it makes me wonder... if we're given an ultimatum, and we chose the wrong thing, is it right if we're punished? For instance, I tell my sister that she can hit me, or not hit me. But if she DOES, I'll steal all her money. She chooses herself to hit me, so I steal all her money. Does that seem unfair? She knew what would happen to her if she chose wrong. So really, I think that it's her fault. Does that make sense? This isn't a real situation, by the way :) God told the people they could listen or not listen, and when they didn't... there would be consequences. God is a God of justice, and...
Read more