Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

A Daily Devotional by Kenton Cheek

12 March 2024

Reading From Deuteronomy 5-7

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

–Deuteronomy 6:4-9

     When I read passages like this in the Old Testament, it strikes me that God did not intend for following the Mosaic Law to become a dry, heartless set of restrictive rules fashioned into a hypocritical religion.  From Deuteronomy 6 I see that God wants obedience to come from hearts that have freely chosen to love Him and that the Law was to be a lifestyle.  Following Him, both in the Old Covenant and in the New, is meant to be a love-inspired way of life with a life-giving, healthy, balanced relationship with God at its core.

     “The Lord our God, the Lord is one” is a belief fundamental to Judaism and Christianity.  It is a truth which must be reconciled with passages describing God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, sometimes present in the same scene at the same time, such as the baptism of Jesus.  We believe in a three in one God, in perfect unity and harmony.

     God gave through Moses very practical ways of making the Law an integral part of the fabric of life.  We are to teach our children God’s Word, make it a part of normal conversation, set physical reminders around us of God and the way He wants us to live.  Knowing God must go from our heads to our hearts to daily life.

“God, be at the center of my life.  Permeate every fiber of my being.  Help me to keep in step with the Spirit every day.  Forgive me when I go astray.  Show me practical ways of bringing Your Word into my life.  May I function in love, obey You out of love, and take the high road because that’s what my loving God would have me do.  Amen.”

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 

–I John 5:1-4