SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/5/2023 9:31 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Response of the Lord”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
22:37-40
Message of the verses: “And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the who Law and the Prophets.”
It did not take the Lord long to respond to the
question that this lawyer asked, and the answer was in accord not only with the
Mosaic law but with an ancient Jewish custom that was based on that law. This command “You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, was part
of the Shema, the Hebrew for “hear,” so named because it began with, “Hear, O
Israel!” MacArthur writes “The Shema comprised the texts of Deuteronomy 6:4-9;
11:13-21; and Numbers 15:37-41—by far the most familiar, most quoted, and most
copied Scripture passages in Judaism. In
Jesus’ day, every faithful Jew recited the Shema twice a day.
“Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21 were two of the four Scripture
texts (which in Ex. 13:1-10 and 13:11-16) that were copied on the small pieces
of parchment and placed in phylacteries that were worn on the foreheads and
left arms of Jewish men during prayer. The practice was based on the admonition
of Deuteronomy 6:8, “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall
be as frontals on your forehead” (cf. 11:18).
It was for the ostentations display of phylacteries that Jesus rebuked
the scribes and Pharisees only a short while later, while He was still teaching
in the Temple (Matt. 23:5). In a similar
way, copies of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21 were placed in mezuzahs, small
boxes that Jews attached to their doorposts, following the instruction of
Deuteronomy 6:9 and 11:20. Both phylacteries
and mezuzahs were still used by many orthodox Jews today.”
Jesus was in actuality telling this lawyer that the great
commandment is the commandment of Moses that all of you recite every day and
that many of you also bind on your arms and foreheads every day.
MacArthur says “Aheb,
the Hebrew word for love used in Deuteronomy 6:5, refers primarily to an
act of mind and will, the determined care for the welfare of something or
someone. It might well include strong
emotion, but its distinguishing characteristics were the dedication and
commitment of choice. It is the love
that recognizes and chooses follow that which is righteous, noble, and true,
regardless of what one’s feelings in a matter might be. It is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek agapo in the New Testament, the verb of
intelligent, purposeful, and committed love that is an act of the will. This love is in contrast to the emotion and
tender affections of phileo and the
physical, sensual love of eros (which
is not used in the New Testament).”
Now as we look at Marks account in 12:30 we see “‘And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the
first commandment.” Notice Mark
uses the word strength in this verse. In
doing this it does no express separate and technical definitions of each
element of human nature or a compartmentalizing of love into three or four
categories, but rather connotes comprehensiveness. This shows us that we are to love the Lord
our God with every part of our being, and Mark tells us that includes our
strength.
Lord willing I will continue to look at this section in
my next SD.
“Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I remember a long
time ago when I memorized the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, which
is commonly called “The Love Chapter.” I
think that if there is one thing that I lack in my walk with the Lord is love,
the kind of love that Jesus is talking about in his section.
My Steps of Fait for Today: I pray that the Lord will
work in my heart to cause me to love in the same way that He loves me, that I
may love others in that way. When I look
at the passage that I am looking at now I see the cross as loving God is the
part of the cross that goes upward, and loving others is the part of the cross that
goes across. Loving God and loving
others pictures what I, as a believer am to do.
9/5/2023 10:08 AM
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