Wednesday 4 January

A: Deuteronomy 6:5 – We must love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and strength. 

In Matthew 22:37 Jesus answered the Pharisee lawyer saying the greatest commandment which is to ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ These verses mean loving God with our entire being. We can do this by having reverence, obeying, and serving Him. ‘And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul’, (Deut.10:12) keeping His commandments (1 John 5: 3) 

Matthew 7:21-27 – Parable of Wise and Foolish builders.

Wise builder hears the Word of God and does them is like building a house on the rock unmoved by rain, floods, and wind beating against it. Foolish builder hears and doesn’t do them is like building on sand which fell ‘with a great crash’ from the storm (NIV). Obedience to God’s commands is a life/death situation.  

A: Loving God is expressed by obeying His law because when we keep His commandments, we receive His protection, and wisdom enjoying a closer relationship with Him because sin separates us. ‘But your iniquities have separated between you and your God; and your sins have hid his face from you, that He will not hear.’ (Isaiah 59:2)