ACTION REQUIRED

And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD that I am giving you this day for your own good?

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 (BSB)

God had specific requirements for His chosen people of Israel to adhere to, and He demands the same things from His children today. The four commands in this statement—fear, walk, love, and serve—are all verbs. Verbs imply actions. We are to fear the Lord, to reverence and respect Him with complete awe, submitting to His will. How do we walk in His ways? This walk is not with our feet, but decision by decision in agreement with God’s way of approaching everything. To loveGod is to offer back to Him the best of us—our utmost—to reciprocate His love which was demonstrated by sacrificing His very best, His only Son, on the cross. We serve the Lord by using the gifts the Holy Spirit has given us to be His hands and feet on the ground, His ambassadors to a lost and dying world.

How are we to do these things? “With all your heart and with all your soul” . . . to me this means with every fiber of my being, with my entire essence. I am to reserve nothing for myself, to surrender all of me to the One who created all. As Chris McClarney of Jesus Culture expressed it in song, “Everything and nothing less I give You.” Obedience to the commands of God is for our own good. We can trust that God uses our compliance for our good because He is good and knows what is best for His children.

Gauge your own activity. Are you fearing, walking, loving, and serving according to God’s will? What changes or adjustments do you need to make today?

Father, wherever we do not agree with Your word, enable us to change because Your love is perfect, and Your commands are what is best for us. Let our actions match up to the love we profess for You