Sunday, February 7, 2010

Love the Lord your God...........

Years ago, I came up with a little ditty based on the verse, Deuteronomy 6:5. I have to confess I was quite proud of myself, hehe. Really it was just a way to sing the verse for kids. It went like this; 'Deuteronomy 6:5,  Deuteronomy 6:5,  Love the Lord,  Your God,  with all your heart and all your soul,  and aaaaallllll of your strength.'  Then it would repeat, quite enthusiastically I might add. I know you can't get the tune by me just writing it, but the important part is that you see the folly of my enthusiasm for the verse in song and it's intent, which was for young children. 
Now some may say, what's wrong with teaching this song to kids? I sure thought it was a grand idea back when I first belted it out to the little tune I came up with. Ha! But now, not so much. You see the folly lies in believing we can inspire anyone to love God with all our hearts, soul and strength, but preaching or singing this very verse, which was a part of THE LAW mind you (which as a new covenant believer you and I are no longer under the supervision of, and dead to it altogether, cause we are now alive in Christ!).  I know if you are a believer that you WANT to love God, and you probably would like to get some credit even for your great love for God. You also may think that it is something you HAVE to do. So I am not questioning that we probably want to love God, but what I am questioning is the have to part and the how to part. Can we sincerely say, being very honest, that we can actually even come close to doing this? I mean really folks, is it even remotely possible? And what was I thinking being so cute and flip about something so huge, so massive, so great a command that I would put it on little children through a song, that they would probably sing all cute and sweet like in Sunday school and most adults would be SO proud as they listened on. POSH! PHOOEY!! 
Really people, do you love God with all your heart, soul and strength? Have you ever once done this? Are you feeling condemned yet by any of this? If your answer is yes, it's cause you are trying to live under the law, which you are not meant to do. 
So how do we love God, I mean shouldn't we love God, isn't it important? Well yes, loving God is a very wonderful part of our lives as believers, but should we actually teach how to do it? Or should we revel in how much He first loved us (1 John 4:10), how Christ fulfilled the law so we didn't have to, and how He laid down His very own life on our behalf so that we could be alive to Him and dead to sin?!!! You see, now that we are not under law and have no demands over us, we can still love God, this time it will be a love that is not of fear of breaking a commandment, but a love that flows freely from knowing you are loved. Rest in the fact that you are so absolutely loved, treasured and adored by God! Know that what Christ accomplished for you at Calvary was the ultimate act of love and you will not be able to help but love God for all He has done and for who He really is!!! 
The following videos are so wonderful and I highly encourage everyone to take some time to watch them, I really think you will be VERY BLESSED!!! Grace and peace to all who may stop by here!!!!!






5 comments:

sparrow girl said...

Lydia I enjoyed your post! Focusing on His love for me and what He's done for me just seems to be the most important thing, and everything flows out of that..

I like Paul White and read his devotionals..thanks for posting this sermon!

lydia said...

'Everything flows out of that' - you said it Sparrow!! ;)

I am really really enjoying Paul White lately, what an awesome resource he is!!!!

Phil said...

Thanks Lydia :)

Sheila Atchley said...

new blog home, I see! Great post, Precious One!

lydia said...

Hey there Miss Thang ~ Glad you found me and stopped by!!!