"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your hear. You shall teach them diligently to your songs 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 up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NASB
"The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." Mark 12:31
I think of another blog that I recently read. In one of the posts there is a little girl, under 10 years old and she is writing a letter to a girl her family supports in Guatemala. In this letter, out of all the things a youngster could possibly write, she writes "God is with you". Such wise and yet simple words that come from the mind of a young girl. It absolutely blew me away.
I know as much as the next guy that this may seem simple but it seems really hard. Is it though? Is it really so hard to yearn after God? To search for Him? To love others as ourselves? Or ... is it really hard shaking free of the lies and sinful practices of this world? I think that is where the answer lies. Many of us are trapped within a web of lies, perpetuated constantly by the world. Temptations bombard us at every street corner, in every relationship ... in the very fabric of our culture. We are walking through a warzone where unexpected things happen at every turn. Bombs are exploding, debris is falling, chaos is everywhere. And where do we find strength and protection? Too often in ourselves. I know I have. In the midst of the smoke, the chaos, the exploding artillery shells, horrific happenings ... one man stands tall. His face and cloak shine and the destruction happening all around disintegrates when touched by His glory. He is reaching out His hand calling to us to grab on and hold on! Yet so often I find myself saying no. I may convince myself and others that I am but I soon realize when the facade is stripped away that I didn't. When we do grab on, God isn't going to shield us from the world. If He were to do that, then where would our testimony be? Who would we bring the gospel to? We're not withdrawn from the battle zone, just given a new mission.
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