"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
The Shema prayer, found in Deuteronomy, is one of the most well-known prayers in Scripture. It gets its name from the first word, 'hear.' It was a daily declaration of faith for the ancient Israelites and remains a central prayer in Jewish tradition today.
The opening line, "Hear, O Israel," does not simply mean to let sound waves enter your ears. It means to allow the words to sink in, to provide understanding, and to generate a response—it's about action. In the Hebrew language, hearing and doing are the same thing.
The next instruction in the prayer is to love the Lord your God. What we translate into English as "love" here is the Hebrew word 'ahavah'. 'Ahavah' is not about the warm, fuzzy, emotional energy we feel when we like someone. Much like listening, biblical love is about action. You 'ahavah' someone when you act in loyalty and faithfulness. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He quoted the Shema. In Matthew 22:36-40 it says, "'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?' Jesus said to him, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
Below are some well-known Scriptures that mention love and reveal its importance to us in our daily walk with the Lord.
Probably the most quoted Scripture of all time is John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Here we see an important principle: out of the foundation of love, God then gave his very best!
Romans 5:5, "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." Again, in Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." What kind of love is this?!
Finally, 1 John 4:7-11, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Love is action. As members of the new covenant, our love for the Lord comes from the perspective of the redeemed, those who have been freed from the punishment of sin, hell, death, and the grave. We love one another and share the love of God with those who don't know Him because of this freedom. The passion and purpose behind our love is that others might know and experience the Love of God for themselves. We believe that ultimately, Jesus will receive the reward of His suffering when men and women of all ages acknowledge Him as their Lord and Savior. When we accept His love, and when we love others, we put love into action!
