Day 38: Distracted
Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and might. Did you know that when Jesus said that, he was not creating something new? Jesus was actually quoting Deuteronomy 6:4 known as the Shema. Most of us know the beginning of it, but many of us do not know the end. Moses says:
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. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
It is really easy to want to love God. God seems to be very loveable. Our whole faith is built off of the foundation that God is love and is to be loved. We agree on that. But if we look at the track record of our lives, we all struggle with loving God the way that He wants to be loved, at all times. We know we should love God. We want to love God. But we fail at loving God.
Moses provides a solution to help us better love God. Ultimately, the solution comes at the end of Deuteronomy where Moses speaks of the day where God will give His people new hearts to love Him. Along with that, Moses provides in the Shema an idea of what we can do to help us love God throughout our day. Moses tells us to talk about God and His ways everywhere we go. Whether we’re at home or going about our day. When we go to bed and when we go to sleep, we should talk about God and His ways. Keep God in our mouths. He even says to use our clothing or even the art and architecture around us to help us love God.
Read Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Numbers 15:37-41
I easily get distracted. I go throughout my days and forget about God too easily. I don’t think on him enough and because of that I do not love God as I ought to or want to. But an easy solution is to use parts of our every day to help us cast our minds back on to God. As Brother Lawrence once said:
He [God] does not ask much of us, merely a thought of Him from time to time, a little act of adoration, sometimes to ask for His grace, sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, at other times to thank Him for the graces, past and present, He has bestowed on you, in the midst of your troubles to take solace in Him as often as you can. Lift up your heart to Him during your meals and in company; the least little remembrance will always be the most pleasing to Him. One need not cry out very loudly; He is nearer to us than we think.
Question to Consider
What is something that you can use today to help you cast your thoughts back on to God? Is it every time you touch your phone you think about God? Is it whenever you see food? Maybe every time you see a stop sign? Is there something you can use to help you draw your attention and affection towards loving God today?
Prayer
Father, I am so loved by you. I want to love you back. Help me keep my thoughts on you so that I may love you well.