Deuteronomy 6:5-6

The title for Chapter 6 in Deuteronomy in my Bible is “A Call For Wholehearted Commitment”. Here’s the thing about loving God, it’s a relationship just like with someone face to face. However, it can seem a little harder because He isn’t in a physical body & around us regularly. It IS a relationship none-the-less.

As with any relationship, if you aren’t committed, it will fall away. Take me as an example, first my friend Sherry left Albany & moved to Tennessee 3 years ago. We are still friends because we text & talk on the phone regularly. Now, the same is true for me. I moved from Albany almost a year ago now. I still have strong relationships with friends & my family because I still communicate & visit with them. That’s what God wants from us. BUT, He wants more. He wants ALL of us, because He gives all of Himself. Any relationship that you put half hearted effort into will suffer.

Our heart is the inner most part of us. Our soul is our personality, the way God created us. and our strength is our resolve, inner grit, the determination we have to complete things. God wants our relationship with Him to be stronger than any we have with humans. He has a plan & purpose for our lives, but without fully loving Him in these ways, we are just barely getting by. Jesus came so we could have abundant life. Not a barely getting by life.

What’s interesting to me, is that Jesus one up’d these verses in Mark 12:29-31. Jesus added MIND to these 3 things in Detuteronomy. Maybe it’s just that God could tell our mind was an issue & it needed to be surrendered too? What do you think?