God is One!

Deuteronomy 6:4 puts it this way, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!"

This scripture clearly states that God is ONE God. It is noteworthy that it comes just before the Greatest Commandment in verse 5, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." Do you see the repetitive phrase in this commandment?

"With all your" heart...soul...strength. Have you ever told someone that you love them "with all your heart"? I have. I know it is a figure of speech because I still have room in my heart to love other people, too.  But, the people that we love "with all our heart" are people for whom we would likely sacrifice something of our own desires. 

When we love God with all of our heart, we give Him all of our will, desires, passion, affection, and perceptions. Nothing and no one trumps our love for God. Yes, at this moment, I am searching my heart to determine if there is anyone or anything that I have placed above God. Lord, I submit my desires, passion, and will to Yours and ask to see myself and others from Your perspective and not my own! I give You not only my heart, Lord, but my soul as well. 

In return, He shows us a genuine love for others. We show that love in what we do, what we say, and how we act. In fact, that is a pretty good definition of soul. In order to love the Lord with all my soul, I must love Him with what I do, what I say, and how I act. 

Again, I am convicted.  Lord, I want my choices to reflect my commitment to You above everyone and everything else. I don't want to merely hear Your Word, I want to DO Your Word and SPEAK Your Word.  Life and death is in the power of my tongue and I humbly accept that I will eat the fruit of my own words. I will be meek (bridling that power) and express my worship to the ONE true God through the acts of service that You find worthy. 

Now, when my heart and my soul are wholly committed to HIM, then, my strength, which is all my resources, will be wholly committed to Him. Lord, I know everything I have comes from You to be used for Your purpose. My physical possessions, my talent, my influence...everything that I am able to do and have is by Your strength. You have given me power, through Your Holy Spirit, to accomplish every good and wonderful thing. 

When Shimmy-Shimmy Shamrock tells young readers about the Trinity, he speaks to these three aspects of the Greatest Commandment:

One leaf stands for the faith

of those who know the Father.

One leaf stands for the love

His Son gave us for others.

The third leaf stands for hope

we have because we know

the Son sent us a Helper;

His name is the Holy Ghost.

This is the "good life" that we are supposed to teach our children. But first we must model it to them. Verses 6-7 tell us that, if we do, we will carry it in our hearts and talk with them about it when we get up in the morning, when we are driving down the road, when we sit down to eat, and when we tuck in for the night. Verses 8-9 remind us that repetition and visual reminders are important in this teaching process.  

Like our children often ask us, you may be asking, "Why does God's Word tell us to do these things?".  We need only look back at the beginning of chapter 6 in verses 1-3 to learn the reason. He is training us, like a father trains his children, to listen to His voice as the ONE voice of Authority in our lives. 

Just as you train your children to follow your instruction so that you can reward them and you encourage your teens to listen to your advice so that they will have more pleasant experiences & greater success, Our Father is preparing us to receive the life that He has promised us. He is the only ONE who can provide it.

Message Books By LaDann to schedule a Storytime (free of charge) at libraries, preschools, your elementary, or children's group. Also available for teaching lessons on Writing Couplets 3rd - 5th grade level or The Trinity 3rd - 5th grade level. Some lessons include crafts. All children who attend will receive a sticker and/or a bookmark! 

You may email ladannhendley@gmail or call 512-677-1771 for more information.