Your Whole Self
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy 6:5
In Jewish worship services, the Shema is the most important prayer. Shema is the transliteration of the first Hebrew word in Deuteronomy 6:4, translated as “hear”: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” The entire prayer—Deuteronomy 6:4-9—was given as an instruction by Moses to remind the Israelites of the importance of ordering their lives according to God’s laws.
When a teacher of the law asked Jesus which was the most important of the commandments, He quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel...you shall love the Lord your God” with all your heart, soul, and strength. This commandment, Jesus said, is the first of all the commandments, no doubt because it is so all-encompassing. Heart, soul, and strength is another way of saying one’s whole self; love God with all your being. Paul’s exhortation to be a “living sacrifice” to God is the same idea (Romans 12:1).
Is there any part of your life today that doesn’t reflect love for God? Ask Him to make you sensitive to ways to love Him more.
A man’s spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God.
C. S. Lewis
Turning Point Ministries
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy 6:5
In Jewish worship services, the Shema is the most important prayer. Shema is the transliteration of the first Hebrew word in Deuteronomy 6:4, translated as “hear”: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” The entire prayer—Deuteronomy 6:4-9—was given as an instruction by Moses to remind the Israelites of the importance of ordering their lives according to God’s laws.
When a teacher of the law asked Jesus which was the most important of the commandments, He quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel...you shall love the Lord your God” with all your heart, soul, and strength. This commandment, Jesus said, is the first of all the commandments, no doubt because it is so all-encompassing. Heart, soul, and strength is another way of saying one’s whole self; love God with all your being. Paul’s exhortation to be a “living sacrifice” to God is the same idea (Romans 12:1).
Is there any part of your life today that doesn’t reflect love for God? Ask Him to make you sensitive to ways to love Him more.
A man’s spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God.
C. S. Lewis
Turning Point Ministries
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