With All Your Heart and Soul
Daily Old Testament Reading: Deuteronomy 30-33
Daily Focus Passage: Deuteronomy 30
The Lord expects people to be all in or all out when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. Partial faithfulness and obedience are not genuine and authentic faith. People live either entirely for or against the Lord. In Deuteronomy 30, the Lord instructed Moses to inform the people of their need to commit to him completely and wholeheartedly. The same calling and expectation extend to us today. The Lord calls us to engage him with all our hearts and soul.
OBEY WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND SOUL
The Lord calls us to obey with all our hearts and soul. This command extended to the children of Israel as they prepared to enter the Promised Land. This call meant that the people were to follow the leading of the Lord and obey the steps that he called them to take. The ability to live in obedience before the law meant that the children of Israel and us today had to hear the calling of the Lord. The ability to listen means that the message was received with the intent of responding.
When we listen with the intent to follow, we place ourselves in the proper posture to engrain the Word of the Lord in our lives. The engraining means that the word becomes part of who we are and is lodged in the core of our being. As we hide God’s Word in our hearts, we create a foundation by which we live out the calling of the Lord in faithfulness and obedience. Thus, if we desire to obey the Lord with all our heart and soul, we must intentionally hear the Word of the Lord, place it in our lives, and live it out.
LOVE WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND SOUL
When we obey the Lord, we demonstrate our love for the Lord. The children of Israel showed the Lord they loved him when they followed his leading and obeyed his commands. The love that God demands is complete and whole because he is a jealous God and will not share the affection his is due. Thus, we must seek to love the Lord entirely without hindrance.
When considering our lives in the Lord, we must analyze our love for him. Do we live holding something back from the Lord, or do we strive to live as one sold out to the Lord? What tends to trip us up and keep us from loving the Lord as we should? When we strive to love the Lord with all our heart and soul, we must identify possible hindrances and barriers, overcome them, and not allow them to keep us from loving the Lord with all we are.
TURN WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND SOUL
When we follow the Lord, we must turn to him with all our hearts and soul. Therefore, the children of Israel were expected to turn from any activity or allegiance that was not following the Lord. This expectation meant that the people needed to turn away entirely from anything not aligned with the Lord and turn to obey the ways, will, and word of the Lord. This expectation continues to us today.
When we seek to turn with everything we are, we must be willing to sacrifice anything that would keep us from the Lord. The concept of sacrifice means we willfully abandon and surrender even if pain or cost is involved. At the same time, when we turn to the Lord, we must likewise follow him completely. This following includes hearing the word of the Lord and following his will, ways, and word wholeheartedly. Are you following the Lord with all your heart and soul?
