TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5
Read: Deuteronomy 6:5
Listen: Deuteronomy 6
TODAY’S MESSAGE
So here is Israel—at the edge of the Land of Promise—about to experience something new. God has a message for them that strikes deep into their hearts. He says to love him with all they’ve got. He wants them to honor him with their thoughts, passions, desires and all the resources they have at their disposal. As they possess the land, he wants them to love him back.
What does it mean to love God with all our heart, soul and strength? Loving him with our heart means aligning our thoughts with the Bible—God’s thoughts and words in written form. Loving with our soul means submitting our desires and passions to line up with his. And loving with all our strength is giving him the gifts he formed in us (such as intellect, creativity, influence and humor) to use the way he desires. We can’t love in any of these ways without his word and power. We can start by sincerely asking God how to love him more deeply.
The command to love God with everything we’ve got applies to us as we stand on the threshold of a new year. But it can’t be done without his word and his power. A place to start is sincerely asking God how to love him more deeply with our heart, soul and strength.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
In your journal, write out the following prayer, “Father God, thank you for loving me first, with a love that will never cease. Show me how to love you back with my heart, soul, strength and strength. Please help me align my thoughts, passions, desires, strengths and resources with your desires, so I can live the way you want me to and demonstrate my love for you. Amen.”
NEW TESTAMENT READING PLAN
Join us this year as we read through the New Testament.
Today’s reading is Matthew 3.
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
