Hearing and Listening

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NIV

Let's face it. We hear a lot of things. But we only listen to some of it. When God spoke the passage in Deuteronomy known as The Shema to his people and Jesus echoed it again, the sentiment wasn't for us simply to hear him. There's an understood command within the opening phrase. In other words, God was saying "Understand and obey these things..."

The Jews were on to something when they began to implement phylacteries into their wardrobe and hang a mezuzah on their doorframes. What great reminders that we have a loving God who desires our love in return. Christians use paraphernalia like t-shirts, stickers and the occasional Scripture hanging on the refrigerator as reminders. But are these sufficient to remind us each and every day that we are to love our God with all of our heart, soul and strength? We need to be on our guard to protect ourselves and our home from the infiltration of the world and its values. Do we have the mechanisms in place to remind us of this danger? Or do we simply wait for something to happen, and then respond. Perhaps we should become a little more proactive in our approach than reactive. Perhaps we should spend a little more effort into understanding and obeying God's command of loving Him with everything that we are instead of simply hearing the command.