I Love You!
And you shall love the LORD your God… (Deuteronomy 6:5a)
“Simon Peter, ‘Do you love Me?’” (John 21:15-17)
Hearing or declaring those three words, when truly meant, communicate the deepest and grandest relational value one can share and experience…I love you!
In Deuteronomy 6:5, this sentiment is the only appropriate response Israel can make to the God of Universe who has done so much. For Israel God’s work of love on their behalf includes, but is not limited to: He had released them from 400 years of Egyptian bondage; had defeated Pharaoh’s army by having them drown in the Red Sea; the LORD had chosen them, set His love upon them, and carried them to Himself (Exodus 19:3-4); God patiently suffered along with them through the trials and struggles of dietary needs, internal rebellions, and receiving the covenant Law during their time of wilderness wandering over 40 years. Now, as a new generation of Israelites stand on the edge of Promised Land entrance the only appropriate response to their only, true LORD God who demands their attention should be one of total, loyal love-obedience…We love you!
Today, the same holds true. What McBride calls, “a response in kind” (S. Dean McBride, Jr. “The Yoke of the Kingdom.” Interpretation 27, no. 3 (Jl 1973): 273-306. “ATLA Religion Database EBSCOhost.) is the only fitting response for Christ-followers today. Now, based on, but not limited to: Jesus’ declaration of the Greatest Commandment is to love God, the Lord Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross for our sins; Jesus’ triumphant resurrection from the dead and glorious ascension where He constantly intercedes; the Father and Son sending the promise of the Holy Spirit to fill each believer; and the future victorious return of Christ as the only true King and Lord—without question, the lone applicable response of Jesus’ disciples is…We love you!
Shema Parenting strongly encourages and faithfully instructs families in the application of this profound directive to obedient and loyal love. The Christian home—marriage and parenting—is God’s created foundational and intimate life-circle designed to exude from its foundational core this all-encompassing exclamation…We love you!
In closing meditate (even memorize one or two) of the following ‘love’ Scriptures. Allow God’s Word to remind and teach us about the promises contained and the power exhibited in living out His love. God’s love was ultimately modeled by the Lord Jesus, and we now yield our lives to Him in order to manifest this genuine love unto our LORD God in Jesus Christ as well as among our family and others. (The verses are from the New English Translation):
The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him…” Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. (John 14:21, 23)
My commandment is this – to love one another just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this – that one lays down his life for his friends. (John 15:12-13)
Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)
You have purified your souls by obeying the truth in order to show sincere mutual love. So love one another earnestly from a pure heart. (1 Peter 1:22)
Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)
And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him. (1 John 4:16)
(Put your name here), “Do you love Me?”
