The frontlets on my heart
“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”. ” (NIV) Deut 6:4-9
The popularly known Shema passage for the Jewish is one with enormous implication for us as persons who have chosen Christ Jesus as our Lord and personal savior. It begins by declaring the Lord as one, the choice of echad, which connotes a plurality in one God, reinforces to us the presence of our Lord Jesus in the thick of affairs from the beginning, ‘And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist’ (Col. 1:17).
Love is broad and wide, it can be better understood with the cross, ‘Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends’ (John15:13). The Lord seeks from us, a love with all our hearts, all our souls and all our strength. Following trends creeping into the body of Christ makes one cringe, a physical and the material filled sermon is not of love, so says the Lord. We can motivate, we can work as hard as we can, we can make all the material wealth we want for ourselves but to what end if we compromise the truth for the soul and prioritize the itchy ear of man.
Man is not just flesh, and any quest to satisfy the flesh while leaving the soul is Godless, the flesh first satisfied and the spiritual smear over is like a covered human trap, the surface looks right until you step foot on it. God demands an unhindered love from us all, one that requires our all, a love that prepares us to lay down our lives for him, a love that seeks his kingdom first, a love with a concern for the soul rather than the material.
We cannot continue to decorate our libraries with the bible, that is not its use, it must be learned and taught others. When we seek Gods mind on any issue, the bible is the pathway to His mind. He enjoins us to ‘Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth’; we must not only learn God’s word, we must also pass it on to the next generation. They must imbibe God’s word to shine their path and lead their ways.
Social aberrations cannot be cured by law or by force, but by the persuasive truth of God’s word. There is nothing more precious than willing the next generation with a two edged sword, these words must sink in our heart and minds, and they must talk to the deepest recesses of our conditions.
Wearing frontlets can be discomforting today, but we have a better covenant which we need not wear but live; these new words will not be on our doorposts but on our hearts. When we speak they flow and when we act they show, we live them every day and they shine our ways, ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven’.( Matt 5:16)
These words were rote memorized by Jews of old, to remind them of the words of God, We may not have to memorize them if we don’t want to, but we ought to see their effect on our lives today. The lessons are valid and transcend generations. Our God has spoken so loud and let’s pray he grants us the strength to do His will.