They Shall Be in Your Heart

[Christsfreeservant]

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God. The Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ESV)​

Love God and Obey Him

This was Moses giving the children of Israel the commandments of God under the Old Covenant. Nine of the 10 commandments listed in the previous chapter (Deuteronomy 5) are repeated for us again in the New Testament under the New Covenant, in one manner or another (not all in the same exact wording necessarily). The only one of the 10 commandments not repeated for us under the New Covenant is the keeping of the Sabbath, for that is no longer required, as Jesus and our salvation are our Sabbath.

Now, regarding this passage in chapter 6, Jesus Christ repeated this one:

Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40 ESV)​

And this word “love” is agapē, which is divine love, a love which comes from God, and which prefers all that God prefers – all that is holy, righteous, morally pure, upright, godly, honest, faithful, and obedient to his commands. This is not fleshly love or lust, based in human emotion, but it is an unselfish and pure love which cares more about the true needs of others than what others will think of us. And this love does no willful harm to another human being. It is a love shown in what we do, not just in what we say.

So if we love God and our fellow humans with this kind of love, i.e. “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might,” this is going to be our practice. We will be passionate about loving God and others with this kind of love, and so it will be lived out in our daily lives. So we are going to live morally pure, honest, and upright lives, in practice, for the glory of God, and in how we treat God and other humans. Will we do it perfectly? Probably not. But it should be what we practice, and it cannot be faked (put on).

And we read in the New Testament that if we love God that we will obey him. For love for God is not some mushy-gushy emotion that gets worked up occasionally, like in a “worship service,” for example, but does not reflect how we treat the Lord as part of our daily practice. If we love God, we will obey him. And if we do not obey him, we do not love him, and we do not know him, and we are liars if we say that we do. And if we do not forsake our sins and obey his commands, we will not inherit eternal life with him.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

You Shall Teach Them

Faith in Jesus Christ is not a “get-out-of-jail-free-card.” It is not a free pass into heaven with no requirements of God for our lives. Faith in Jesus, which is genuine God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in him, leads the sinner to be crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. Now our lives are under Holy Spirit control and no longer under the control of our sinful flesh, if our faith in Jesus is genuine.

Not only that, but when we believe in Jesus, and he changes us in heart and mind and action away from our lives of sin, to now follow him in walks of obedience to his commands, our desire is to serve him with our lives. And our concern should be for the salvation of our fellow humans, but not that they “get saved” so that they can go to heaven when they die, but that their lives now come under Holy Spirit control, and that they leave their lives of sin behind them to follow Jesus in walks of obedience to his commands.

So, we should be sharing Jesus and His Word with other humans, especially with our children and other family members, so that they can come to know him, and so that they can also walk in the ways of the Lord, worthy of him. And this should be our life course, something that we do naturally, in the power of the Spirit, and not just following some “canned” “Gospel tract,” especially since a lot of those are not teaching the truth of the gospel, but they are teaching a very diluted (false, half-truth) gospel message.

Now, with regard to us binding these commands as a sign on our hands, etc., we can choose to take that more literally, not as a command to us who are under the New Covenant, but as a worthwhile suggestion for how to keep our minds reminded of the commands of our Lord. Or we can choose to take that more figuratively, which would then be a command of the Lord, because this would have to do with us applying the truths of God’s word in our daily lives, by our deeds, by what we think about, and by what we talk about, i.e. including what we share with others. Is our faith obvious?

[Matthew 10:37-38; Matthew 22:8; Luke 9:23-26,62; see also: Ephesians 4:1; Philippians 1:27; Colossians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:12]

Songs in the Night

An Original Work / December 18, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84

Lord, I praise You forevermore.
You, my Savior, I now adore.
Hope in heaven awaiting me,
Because You died at Calvary.

I have been forgiven,
And I’m bound for heaven.
Jesus set me free from
All my sin, I say.
I will praise Him always!

Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:
Overcame death, my vict’ry won!
Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!
I rejoice in His love for me.

I will walk in vict’ry!
My sin is but hist’ry!
I am free to please Him
With my life today.
I will love Him always!

Lord, I thank You for giving me
A new life bought at Calvary.
Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.
Tender mercies now flow within.

Lord, I am so thankful;
Through my Lord, I’m able
To sit at His table;
Fellowship with Him.
I will thank Him always!

They Shall Be in Your Heart
An Original Work / February 1, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love