Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 6: The LORD deserves wholehearted love

Begin in prayer

Before hearing the call to love the LORD with our whole heart, let us come before Him. Ask Him to help our family treasure His word and see the obedience of His Son.

So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name.

Psalm 63:4

Father in heaven, You alone deserve our worship and love. Help us listen to Your word with willing hearts. Show us the sin that divides our affections, and lead us to trust Your beloved Son. Please open our eyes as we read Your Word, make us more like Christ, and bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Israel is about to enter a land filled with gifts they did not build or plant. Moses says the LORD is one, so Israel must love Him with all their heart, soul and might. Parents must talk of His words at home and on the way, when they lie down and when they rise up. Prosperity must never make them forget the God who rescued them from slavery. When children ask about His commands, parents must explain that rescue. God commands obedience for their good and warns that following other gods will bring destruction.

As you read Deuteronomy 6, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The LORD alone is God and deserves wholehearted love.

Moses begins with “Hear, Israel,” words God's people later spoke every morning and evening as their confession of faith. The LORD is one, the only living God, so Israel's love belongs to Him alone and to no other god. Heart, soul and might mean the whole person, with nothing held back from Him. These words must first be “on your heart,” and then parents teach them to their children (verses 6 and 7). Sitting at home, walking by the way, lying down and rising up cover the whole day, so God's word fills ordinary family life. Many Jews later tied small scrolls of these words to the hand and forehead, to keep them always in mind. When a son asks what the commands mean, the answer begins with rescue, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt”. Verse 25 describes the righteousness God's law requires, which sinful people cannot establish by their own obedience. Jesus called these words the first commandment, and He alone has loved the Father with all His heart (Mark 12 verse 30).

How does Deuteronomy 6 show us that the LORD alone is God and deserves wholehearted love?

The LORD alone is God, so He is worthy of all our love.

The LORD claims the heart, soul, and strength of His people. Love for Him must shape their thoughts and actions. Worship cannot be confined to a gathering or a particular hour. Only Jesus has loved the Father like this, with His whole heart.

God gives good gifts His people did not build or plant.

Israel would enjoy cities and fields prepared by others. These gifts could tempt them to live as though God were unnecessary. Moses tells them to remember the slavery from which He brought them.

God's rescue is the story parents tell their children.

Children would ask why their family followed these commands. Their parents must answer by telling how the LORD rescued Israel. Daily instruction joins God’s commands to His gracious deeds. That rescue from Egypt points to the greater rescue God gives through Jesus.

Memorise

Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one. You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what do I love more than God that I must bring to Jesus?

Moses commands, “You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.” Every divided affection exposes our sin. Jesus upheld this command and fulfilled it through a life of complete love for His Father.

The obedient Son went to the cross and carried the sin of His disobedient people. God raised Him up, and His finished obedience and sacrifice are everything needed to save sinners who come to Him. No effort to keep the law can repair a guilty heart or add to His completed work.

Turn from the loves that compete with God and trust His Son. Every sinner who trusts Jesus is forgiven. When God makes a heart new, it begins to love Him with all it has. Ask Him for a heart that treasures His word throughout ordinary days.

Parent's note

Tell your children about God’s rescue, then use an ordinary moment today to explain something God has done and something He commands. Teach each child to seek Christ, without assuming that learning Bible words proves saving faith. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for His word, and bring your divided loves and the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so invite each one to ask for help to love God.

though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered. Having been made perfect, he became to all of those who obey him the author of eternal salvation,

Hebrews 5:8-9

Father in heaven, thank You that You alone are God and worthy of all our love. Forgive our divided hearts and bring each of us to trust Christ’s sufficient obedience and sacrifice. Help us love You with the whole heart and speak of Your word throughout our days. In Jesus' name, Amen.