“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command 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, when you walk by the way, 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).
Look at the emphasis there. Look how comprehensive it is.
In your heart.
Teaching them diligently.
Talking of them in the house, by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up.
Bound on your hands, placed between your eyes, written on your doorposts and gates.
Am I that engaged with the Word of God?
Is it in my heart? Is it on my mind when I wake up and when I go to bed at night—or is my mind elsewhere? Is it guiding what I do with my hands, where I look with my eyes, and where I travel with my feet? Is it just as important to me inside my home as it is outside of it? Do I take every opportunity to share its guiding principles with my children?
I wish I could say the answer is an absolute, unqualified yes for every one of those questions. But it’s not. I don’t always measure up to those standards—but I want to. You do, too. And sometimes, it helps to hold up that passage like a mirror to our spiritual life and ask, “How am I doing? Where have I improved? Where am I falling short?”
David asked, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). And that’s the goal, I think—to feel like there’s no area of our lives where God and His Word don’t have a place. When we walk, we take that Word with us. When we lie down, when we rise up—whatever we do, wherever we look, wherever we are—we take it with us.
The goal is to have it always there in our heart—because we value it enough to keep it there. Even when other things try to push it out, we make sure it has a constant, immovable place. We need to make sure it’s woven into the very fabric of our day-to-day life—that there’s nowhere we can go where it isn’t already firmly rooted.
That’s the goal.
Today is a chance to do it better than we did yesterday.
It’s time to be diligent.
Thank you Jeremy! Happy Sabbath to you and your family!
The word diligent, diligently, or diligence can be found in: Prov. 4:23; Romans 12:8; 2 Peter 1:5 and Hebrews 11:6, and I’m sure many others.
Happy Sabbath! That sounds like it would be a good word study. I’m always curious when a word starts showing up fairly regularly—is it the same in the Greek, too? Is the meaning exactly the same as in English? Worth checking out!
Brian Shaw spoke about needing to be more than just yielded. We yield as a merging car but quickly go back to wanting to rule the road. For the past few days I’ve been asking myself if I am truly surrendered. Truly fully committed the way I think I am.
I’ve found myself wondering that too, lately. It’s very easy to keep trying to stuff “my will” into “Thy will.”
Your ‘Sabbath Thoughts’ are a good way to begin the Sabbath. Thank you. I am getting better at avoiding distractions and keeping my actions and thoughts in line with His thoughts, but there is always room for improvement!
Happy Sabbath, and thank you for the kind words!
Thank you Jeremy. It is so good to have you back
Thank you! It’s good to BE back!
Hello Jeremy, Been enjoying Sabbath Thoughts and learning from it for sometime.
Perhaps it is a typo but isn’t your first reference; from Deuteronomy 6:4?
Regards, Mike
You’re right! Good catch and thank you. I’ve fixed it 🙂
We’ve missed you! As always, your ST are very inspiring.
Happy Sabbath.
Aw, thanks! I appreciate the encouragement! Have a great Sabbath.
Really appreciate your articles Jeremy!! Always so insightful and helpful. Thanks for sharing them!
Thanks for saying so! Glad it’s a way I can serve 🙂 Have a terrific Sabbath!