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. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 _NIV

All? It doesn’t take much self -examination to know my “all” isn’t as much as it should be.

I love the Lord with most of my heart… the majority of my heart… the most important parts of my heart. But ALL…how is that even possible?

It’s not as if I purposefully determine to give only some of my heart to God—as if I wake up say “God, you can have it all…except for that little part right over there.” 

I want to love God with all my heart, soul, and strength. But I also struggle with removing the rubbish and taking out the trash that stands in my way. 

Multiple times while contemplating this verse—and thinking it was the word all I should be focused on—a certain quote made its way in front of me (I have a friend who calls those “sneaky Jesus” moments).

The first duty of love is to listen.  ~Paul Tillich

Hear, O Israel…

I think there’s a reason God started with this command. Before I’m commanded to love the God with all my heart, soul, and strength, I’m commanded to listen. 

The opening word hear is translated from the Hebrew word Shema. This verse in Deuteronomy 6 is known as the Shema, a sacred prayer of the Jewish people and a declaration of their faith in God.

The word used here doesn’t mean to hear like we might passively scan the chatter at the coffee shop or listen with only half our attention while we’re busy with another task. The word means to listen attentively, to hear as though receiving a command. 

Which, in fact, we are. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus recited this verse in Mark 12:28-30, starting with “Hear O, Israel.”

Mr. Tillich, the theologian, must have gotten it right when he said the first duty of love is to listen.

What love demands…

If love demands I first listen, then loving with all my heart, soul, and strength must start with listening with all my being—fully attentive, engaged, and focused. No passively scanning as I read and study God’s Word or half-hearted attention in my times of prayer and worship.

As a human made of weak and fallible flesh, putting all my heart, soul, and strength into anything will likely be an unreachable goal, no matter how hard I try. Thankfully, Jesus has taken care of this debt so that I can live, not under the condemnation of my failure, but under the conviction to guard my all.

And I can guard my all by hearing.

The more I listen to God and hear His words, the less of my heart is filled with worldly distractions. The fewer worldly distractions I allow in my heart, the more I can fill it with the things of God. I find that as I am filled more and more with the love of God and the truth of His Word, the all of my heart, soul, and strength grows greater.

Loving God with all my heart, soul, and strength starts by hearing with all my attention, devotion, and time. 

Meet Lori…