How will you take steps toward God this year?
This is the foundational question for the other two steps we are taking. Steps toward God ultimately lead to steps toward one another and steps toward the world. If our steps toward God do not lead us toward his people and then lead his people toward the world then we must reexamine our time with God. When you read through the gospel accounts you see Jesus taking these three steps. He often goes off to solitary places to pray. He invests in his disciples (not just the twelve but he also specifically invested in three). Jesus then always has an eye toward the world and steps toward those who no one is willing to step toward. I believe his steps are guided by his time with God the Father. He begins his ministry with a 40-day retreat in the wilderness dedicated to prayer and fasting. He stays up all night praying before making big decisions. He wrestles with God the Father in prayer before his toughest actions.
His steps toward God the Father shaped his steps toward others and the world.
Developing the routines/disciplines/habits of spending regular time with God helps you stay oriented to where you need to go in life, what you need to do, where you need to direct your energy, and where you need to give concern. Regular time with God creates a place of discernment where the Spirit guides where you need to go. Bible study without silence and solitude with God often leads to interpreting the Bible to be shaped into your life. Creating disciplines of listening to God allows your life to be interpreted by scripture in a way that shapes your life into the narrative God. The other major implication of developing these practices and habits is that you then pass them down to your children.
This Sunday, we are going to look at how the Shema was intended to shape the life of God’s people. You can find some great resources on the Shema here.
The Shema is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and is the bases for Jesus’s teaching on “The Greatest Command.” Take some time to read all of chapter 6 and let it examine your life. Moses is standing in front of God’s people at the end of his life. He has led them through the wilderness twice, trying to help them develop a relationship with the God who carried them out of slavery. This relationship is submission to the God who provides. That takes relinquishment of control and desire for power to then let God simply be God. Moses gives this command to God’s people to prepare them for where they are going.
I come back to this chapter in Deuteronomy often to reorient my life. Read through chapter 6 a few times and contemplate the implications. Here are some questions to help you prepare for Sunday:
Why is Moses concerned they will forget God?
Does your life look more like Israel in the wilderness or in the promised land?
Think about your day to day life. Where do you have to depend on God?
How would you rewrite 6:6-9 to fit your modern life?
In 6:20-25, how does Moses say to respond to the questions of your children? When children ask why their parents do the things they do, Moses tells them to share the story of God’s action for their people. This is what we do weekly around the Lord’s Table. This is the narrative Paul calls the church in Philippi to shape their lives after in Philippians 2:5-11. How well do you know the story of God’s action in your life that you can easily share it when someone asks you why you live the way you do?