Deuteronomy 6: 4-5  “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.”

How much do you love Him this morning?  Do you really love Him with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength?  He loves you that much!  Have you ever loved someone so much that it almost hurt; you love to be with them, you spend every minute you can getting to know them and learning what makes them happy?  God wants you to have that relationship with Him!

This is the greatest of the commandments!  Note to self, they are not suggestions, they are commands.  We are to respect and love God with all that is within us and everything else in life will fall into place.  It is when we allow other things and other people to take His place as number 1 in our lives that we begin to have problems.  I am not saying  that if you love God this way you won’t have problems.  I just believe that so often we get too busy to include God on the level we should these days and we don’t teach our children the way we have been instructed in this chapter as well and then we wonder why the world seems to be such a mess.  It isn’t just the fact that we have taken Him out of our public schools it is that He seems to be on the shelf in our homes.  It is time to take God more seriously in our own lives!

Do your children see God as important to you other than on Sunday as you all argue all the way to church?  Do they see you read your Bible and hear you pray for something other than your meal?  Do they see a life lived out in front of them that exhibits a life that is directed by a Holy God.  Do the things that you say and do show your love and respect for God in such a way that your children know how important it is to honor God in all that they do?

It is so important that each of us pray and ask God to show us what we are lacking in our walk with HIm!  What do we need to add or subtract from our lives that will show our great love for HIm?  I would encourage you to ask Him today and ask HIm for the strength to make the changes necessary.  Trust me there’s nothing He would love to do more than show you how to love HIm better!  The best is yet to come!

Quote:  “There are two ways of spreading light:  to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”  Edith Wharton