Hear, O Christians!

It is wonderful to be back writing this blog again.  I have thoroughly missed it.  I had planned to continue to write on my trip to Israel, but on the first night I opened up the webpage of the blog and all my instructions were in Hebrew.  Now, I took some Biblical Hebrew along the way, but 'email', 'blog' and such are not words found in the Hebrew Bible.  That and the time change made me back off until I returned. Now I have slept a couple of nights in my own bed, I am beginning to get my feet under me now.

Today the Lord reminded me of something that I have tried to frame my life around.  He speaks of it in Matthew 22:35-38-   And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment.  (www.lifejournal.cc). When the Lord uses these terms it would immediately take the first century Jew back to another passage of Scripture in Deuteronomy 6:4-5-  “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  Notice how those verses continue as well....⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ⁷ 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. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (v.6-9).

This is a key passage of Scripture in Jewish life and it should be for us as well.  For the Jews their lives are marked by these passages.  If one is familiar with the Jewish holiday around Christmas time that is called Hanukkah, you are probably familiar with the 9 stem candelabra called the menorah.   The menorah is developed out of a different historical event in Jewish history but it is very important to the Jew today.  While on our trip to Israel, one of our quick stops was to see a large copper menorah that stood out in front of one of the Israeli government buildings.  It was quite a piece of art.

It stands about 12 feet tall.  If you look close, you will see a circle on the base of it.  That circle has two Hebrew words.  The first line is 'Hear' which is pronounced in Hebrew: Shema.  The second line says 'Israel'.  It is a reference to Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and is a mainstay in Jewish life.  It is simply called the Shema.  Because of the Shema, every door in every hotel room that we stayed in on our trip had a small box on the frame with the first letter of the word 'shema' on it (a reference to Deut. 6:9). When Jews walked by, they touched it and said a little prayer.  During prayer time, fundamentalist Jews would place small boxes with leather straps on them on their forehead and their forearm.  These boxes are suppose to contain some piece of God's law (a reference to Deut. 6:8).  It is a big deal in all of their lives.                                            

It ought to be a big deal in our lives as well.  No, we are not to put a special something on our doorframes or our foreheads.  The point of the passage was to mark your homes with your love for God.  Whether they are marked physically or not, does not matter near as much as the fact that they are marked spiritually.  Your mind (forehead) is to be on God and your hands are to do the work of God.  We are to love Him with all that we have. 

It was inspiring to see the dedication that the Jewish people had to their understanding of these passages.  It is even more inspiring and life changing when we live it out with all of our lives.  Love the Lord your God today and let it reflect in your homes, with your family, and with your neighbors!

I look forward to worshipping with you tomorrow.