6:4 “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Have I committed myself wholeheartedly to His commands? What does that mean? I would think it would mean that I would do a better job of really living what I have read. Of memorizing His word and taking one aspect per day and really committing myself to allowing His Spirit to change/bring victory in that area. Do I continually talk of God's commands at home? I want our home to be one in which Jesus loves to 'hang out' because He finds us in tune with Him. I want us to be a family that honors Him - in everything we do. I don't want to have any 'hidden closets' in which He is not allowed to enter and 'clean up'.
As I read this following passage I was reminded of the miraculous change that occurred in my at the moment of my conversion.
6:20 “In the future your children will ask you, ‘What is the meaning of these laws, decrees, and regulations that the Lordour God has commanded us to obey?’
21 “Then you must tell them, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand. 22 The Lord did miraculous signs and wonders before our eyes, dealing terrifying blows against Egypt and Pharaoh and all his people. 23 He brought us out of Egypt so he could give us this land he had sworn to give our ancestors. 24 And the Lord our God commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear him so he can continue to bless us and preserve our lives, as he has done to this day. 25 For we will be counted as righteous when we obey all the commands the Lord our God has given us.’
I was a slave to sin, and God delivered me from that life of sin with amazing power. He put His Spirit in my heart when I accepted what Jesus had done for me on the cross. He changed me - truly changed me - from the inside. I'm righteous because of Christ - not from "obeying the law". But Jesus does require obedience to His Word because it is our "reasonable service". He says "If you love me, obey my commandments."
God tells us that we must remember. Humans forget... it's part of our nature. We are called to remember our blessings and struggles so that we can recognize and fight it later or thank God for it.
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