Day 17 – March 24
What is one way you could add God's words into your daily environment or routines?
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you get up. 8Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9Write them on the doorframes of your house and on your gates.
Humans (or many of us) can be highly distractable and forgetful. With so many things vying for attention in our schedules and our minds, it’s easy to see how other things, important things, can be pushed to the periphery. Out of sight, out of mind. Fortunately, humans (all of us) are incredibly creative. We’ve figured out numerous ways to remember and focus on important things. Ways to remind ourselves.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 is part of the Jewish prayer tradition, known as the Shema. Ancient Jewish people said the Shema every morning and evening, as an affirmation of their faith and a hymn of praise. Shema is the word hear or listen, and it means more than hearing in the auditory sense. It means to allow the words to sink in, provide understanding, and move one to response. Fully active listening.
It appears the ancient Jewish people also needed some examples of how to keep these words and instructions of God in mind (and on heart).
You may have a morning or evening practice around reading and reflecting on the Scriptures: perhaps a morning quiet time, listening to the Bible on a commute to work, reading a passage together with your family at dinner, or an evening devotional before bed.
If you do have one of these practices, is there something else you might physically add to your environment to bring important verses to mind? Do you have jewelry or mementoes in your wallet or purse to trigger remembrance of certain verses? Might you write out a verse and carry it with you? Could you make a habit of talking more freely with people about the Scriptures: how God’s word is speaking to you, providing you with wisdom, and moving you to response? Is there something you do most days, and you could add the Scriptures to that moment in some way?
If you don’t have these kinds of rhythms or practices, and you want to remember what Christ has done for you, to keep God front of mind, maybe it’s time to experiment with one of the above ideas. You could also commit to some Scripture graffiti on your doorframe, lipstick verses on the bathroom mirror, or a sticky note with a Bible passage on your fridge.
Jesus also said these verses sum up the entirety of the commandments of God, along with loving our neighbours (a thought for another day). Perhaps a place to start might be committing this greatest commandment to memory.
Matthew 22:36-40
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Day 18 – March 25
What is one unhealthy practice or sinful habit that you could replace with one spiritual practice or godly habit?
