TLIC FAMILY. DAY 41. FEBRUARY 10: LOVE GOD.

THINK TOGETHER

What do you think is the most important commandment God ever gave to us?

READ TOGETHER

In the book of Deuteronomy God gave Moses a prayer to give to the Hebrew people. It’s called the shema (pronounced without the “e” sound – shmah – you can practice saying it together). The shema gives us a statement about God and then gives us a command to obey. Here is what the shema says, see if you can hear the statement about God and then the command:

Deuteronomy 6:4-5. ⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 

The nation of Israel prayed this prayer twice a day every day – morning and night. They prayed it on holidays. They prayed it when special things happened. The shema is a really important prayer. In fact, even Jesus prayed the shema. Not only that, but when he was asked what the most important commandment in all the Bible was can you guess what he said? That’s right, love God is number one.

But why is loving God the most important commandment? Because we were created by God to be loved by him and to love him in return. God IS love. When God made us to image him, that meant loving like he loves.

But there’s a really big problem with this commandment from God isn’t there? Do any of us really love God with ALL our heart, ALL our soul, ALL our might? No, we don’t. We all fail at loving God completely. That’s called sin. But Jesus loved God and loved others in our place. His perfect love covers over our failure to love.

Never forget how much God loves you. He loves us first. And that is what gives us the power to love him and love others. Do you know how much Jesus loves you? Think about the cross of Jesus. And the more you think about the cross of Jesus, the more God’s love will grow in your heart.

Because of Jesus even when I fail to love God, God still loves me.

With Jesus we can love God more and more.

DO SOMETHING TOGETHER

Sing a song together about God’s love (Maybe God So Loved by We the Kingdom).

PRAY TOGETHER

Jesus, because of you, God will always love me. Help me to learn how to love God with all my thoughts, and feelings, and actions. Amen.