Shall Be On Your Heart

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

The speaker was Moses, and he was speaking to the Israelites who were God’s chosen people under the Old Covenant. Now we are not under the Old Covenant that they were under, but there are still things taught under the Old Covenant which may still apply to us under the New Covenant which our Lord has with those of us who now believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, whether Jew or Gentile by physical birth. For Jesus made us both one person through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:11-22).

And under the New Covenant we are still taught to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our might. And we are taught that if we love God that we will keep (obey) his commandments (Matthew 22:34-40; John 14:15-24; John 15:10; 1 John 5:2-3; 2 John 1:6).

So, if this is how we are to love the Lord, what should that look like? It means that we are to love God with our entire being, fully, completely, without wavering. Every fiber of our being should love God. And to love him is to obey his commandments under the New Covenant, and it is to follow our Lord Jesus wherever he leads us in doing whatever it is that he commands and has called us to do. For to love God with this love is to prefer what he prefers which is obedience to his ways in holy living.

Now it says here that these commands shall be on our hearts. So this isn’t just about memorizing the Scriptures so that we can recite them. And it isn’t just about studying the Scriptures (in context) so that we have knowledge of what they are teaching us. But this is about applying God’s commands to us, who believe in Jesus Christ, to our hearts and to our lives, to where they are being lived out in our words and in our actions and in our attitudes and values and beliefs, etc. They must become a reality in how we live.

Then, when we are living them, not necessarily in absolute perfection, but definitely in daily practice, we are to teach them to other believers in Jesus Christ, especially in the times we now live when so many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are ignoring the commands of God because they are being convinced that obedience to the Lord and to his commands is not required of them. But if we read the New Testament, in context, we can’t miss it. We must obey our Lord’s commandments or we don’t know God (1 John 2:3-6).

So, first we must love the Lord with our whole being, which then includes walking in obedience to his commands, and then we need to be those who are teaching other professers of Christ to do likewise. And we are also to be those who are sharing the truth of the gospel with all people and who are making disciples of Christ of people of all nations, teaching them to obey our Lord’s commandments. For to this we are called. For we are called to serve the Lord God with our lives and to do his will.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]  

And this isn’t something that is “hit and miss.” This should be our lifestyle, our practice, how we live day in and day out. So this isn’t about just having a formal time of Bible study and then we go on with our lives. The Lord and his word should be in our daily conversations with family, friends, neighbors, and with other professers of Christianity, and with strangers, and in person and on the internet wherever we are. It should be obvious that we have been with God and that we are in genuine relationship with Jesus Christ.

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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