God is First in My Relationships
As I am driving my kids to school, I like to remind them that they are special and loved by our Heavenly Father, and that God has a beautiful plan for their lives even as young kids. Very often, we will go through the Shema which is the first prayer that Jewish children learn. Traditionally, the Shema is prayed twice a day in Jewish families. It is the centerpiece of their prayer services, found in Deuteronomy 6:4 it says, “Hear Oh Israel, the Lord is your God, the Lord is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your might.” This prayer is meant to be a daily reminder of who God is, and whose they are, as well as highlight their responsibility as the people of God to love Him above everything else.
How does this apply to Christians like you and me? Jesus was asked, “what is the greatest commandment of all?” Jesus responded with the Shema. And he added that “To love God with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” What are we to learn from this story? Jesus is reminding us today that our Heavenly Father is our Lord and our highest devotion is to love Him with all our being. These may be simple words, but they have the capacity to reshape the course of our life. The Shema helps us by keeping God's love in the forefront of our mind and compels us towards obedience, not out of obligation or duty, but out of love.
For me, loving God is the result of an intimate, and personal encounter with my Savior who changed the course of my existence when I was 11 years old. Loving God is not a religious duty. I love Christ because He first loved me (1 John 4:19). But the reality is that my love will never match His amazing love. There is nothing I can do to return all His goodness and kindness towards me. He is my love and my Lord, my savior, my best friend, my passion, my desire and the One I live for. I desire to love HIM first above everything.
I have to acknowledge that some days I love Him better than other days. I am still in this journey of learning how to love Jesus and keeping Him first in my daily life. Practically, I love Him through prayer and worship, or meditating on His Word, and obeying His commands as He speaks. Jesus told His disciples in John 14:15 that if we love Him, we will obey His commands.
No matter where you are in your journey of loving Jesus above everything else, I pray for you today that you will pursue a personal and intimate relationship with the lover of your soul, not out of obligation or religious duty. He is definitely worthy of our highest love and devotion!
By Marie-Ange Tagne