“ALL IN” WITH GOD

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NRSV

4Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 8Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, 9and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Sometimes I think the world is too complicated. Have you had that thought? I did when I struggled to get some information from one of my doctors recently. I called the office, but all I got was a multi-layer prerecorded set of messages that ultimately led me to an app to download that didn’t work on my phone. Have you experienced frustrations in life like this too?

I know I am going to horribly date myself here, but what happened to a simple “on/off” button on the TV and a channel selector? Anybody remember how simple life once was? Sure, I can get to the show I want to see (and 3000 shows that I don’t want to see), after about 14 clicks in the proper sequence to crank up the proper app on my “smart TV” assuming ROKU hasn’t crashed and the WIFI hasn’t hiccupped.

People say, “oh but life is so much richer now?” I have to say, that’s not been my experience. It’s why I have so enjoyed the Old Testament stories in our Disciple class. Life seems simpler when your single focus is helping your family follow God on a journey to a place God promises God will give you – the promised land.

And on that journey, God speaks to the people’s spiritual leader and tells him to command the people this to sustain them, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all you might.”

In other words, be “all in” with God. Hold nothing back.

It’s a simplifying message. No app required.

How is today’s “smart” world receiving such a simple message?

God’s Clarifying Love,