The Lord your God will prepare you and your descendants to love him with your whole being so that you will live. Deuteronomy 30:6 (NCV)
I am struck by the phrase “God will prepare me to love Him”.
To prepare something is to make it ready or suitable or equip in advance. It means that God, Himself will train and teach me to love Him. It is not something I have to do alone, something I have to do by myself. It is in me, because He is in me.
…the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. Deuteronomy 30:14 (NCV)
Over the span of my life, experiences, trials, and cutting wounds, have built up layer upon layer of defenses, a familiar, yet counterfeit protection of my heart. Those incidents and encounters harden my heart, creating calluses, tough lumps and nodules of mental and emotional junk –fear, anxiety, jealousy, anger, guilt, regret, etc. – that cause me to turn my focus to circumstances instead of keeping my eyes on my Savior.
But God changes my heart. He makes it different; causing a transformation. The essence of my heart becomes realigned and returns to its original nature; no longer full of sin, but restored to right-standing.
My heart is renovated, a spiritual circumcision. The walls are demolished, the calluses are cut away, and piles of offense are left behind for the scrapyard. When the junk is cleared away, I can see what is really important…I am freed to choose life.
To choose life is to love the Lord your God, obey him, and stay close to him. He is your life, and he will let you live many years in the land, the land he promised to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Deuteronomy 30:20 (NCV)
To choose life is to become vulnerable to the One who created me, who already knows the deepest parts of me, who knows my substance. To choose life is intimacy (into-me-see) with my Father. To choose life is to learn how to love the Lord my God with all my heart, all my soul, all my strength, and all my mind, with my whole being.
You made me and formed me with your hands.
Give me understanding so I can learn your commands…
Give me life by your love
so I can obey your rules. Psalm 119: 73, 88 (NCV)
Amen.
Blessings – Julie, Vadipatti, India (written in the U.S.A.)
Scripture taken from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Sixty-six books in a year 