Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ESV

What does this command look like today?

We have this one life which is full of family and work and activities and responsibilities and so much else. We tend to try to compartmentalize our lives, this is my work life, this is my family life, this is my church life. I say, “no, we have this one integrated life.” We should be the same person everywhere we go experiencing all our life as one.

As Christ followers, we are to look and live like Jesus wherever we are and whatever we are doing. There should be evidence of our love for God in our lives. We should be talking about Him and how He is working in our lives in our everyday conversations but to do that we must believe He is working. We need to be paying attention to, looking, and listening for God. He is always working we usually just aren’t noticing.   

Have you ever hung out with someone you like or admire for a few days, and you notice that you are adopting their mannerisms or starting to talk like them? As we spend time with Jesus we should begin to look and sound like Jesus. Did you catch that, we must be spending time with Jesus if we are going to be becoming like Jesus.

When you love someone, you tend to want to spend time with them, lots of time with them. When you love someone, you want to know what they are thinking, how they are doing, where they are going. When you love someone, you want to do nice things for them and show them how much you love them through acts of service, conversations, gifts, and support.

If we love Jesus and believe in Him, then as we spend time with Him, we are going to become kinder, more compassionate, less judgement, more understanding and accepting of ourselves and others as we trust in His love for us. If we believe Jesus loves us, then from knowing that love deep in ourselves and loving Him with all our heart, mind, and soul, we are going to want to share that love with others. There is a miracle and mystery to the process that I cannot completely articulate but I have experienced it.

We spend time with God and become more like God. He rubs off on us as we hang out with Him. And the Holy Spirit in us helps us and produces His fruit in us!

I always thought that the fruit of the Spirit was for our benefit, which to some degree it is because we get to experience it, but someone caused me to realize the fruit of the Spirit in me is for the benefit of those I interact with. If I allow the Spirit to work in me and produce His fruit in me, then I have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control to offer others.

It does not mean I never mess up or don’t still overreact, this will still happen because I am human, but it will become less and less my norm. And as my relationship with God grows, the more I am going to want to talk about Him and what He has done for me as I walk, and as I eat, and as I work, and as I do life. What we fill our lives with is what is going to come out our of life. (Luke 6:45)

So, if we say we believe, if we say we have faith, and someone followed us around, watched us and listened to us, would they say that was true of us?

It is not confession that makes our faith true. It is what we do with the knowledge, our application in our life. (James 2:14-26)

For example, you may say you love your spouse, but if you are unkind, use bad tone, treat them poorly, have high expectations of their behavior, want them to change, take advantage of them, are passive/aggressive, etc. Do you really love them?

What does Christ-like love look like?

Grace. Acceptance. Celebrating who someone is, not wishing they would be something different.

I have found that when I know God’s love for me, regardless of what anyone else says about me, as I trust in God’s love for me and generate love by thinking on what is true, honorable, just, commendable, excellent, then I show up better in all my relationships.

When I stop expecting the other person to meet my needs and practice meeting my own needs, allowing the Spirit of God in me to meet my needs and work, I have peace. I practice mind-management.

The Bible tells us, “Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable. Beautiful and respectable, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising Him always. Put into practice the example of all that you have heard from me or seen in my life and the God of peace will be with you in all things.” Philippians 4:8-9 TPT Or The Message translation says, “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.”

We practice. We intentionally practice thinking on Truth. We write down scriptures and claim them as our own. We meditate on God’s Truth about who we are and what He says is true. When our thoughts go astray, and they will go astray because we are human, we focus our thoughts and keep refocusing our thoughts on Truth. Our negative/old thoughts do not mean we are bad or there is something wrong with us or we are not improving, it is just how our brains work. Once we know this is how our brains work then we can practice awareness and intentionally choose what we think.

Often the stories we are telling ourselves about ourselves and about the other people in our lives are not true. We tend to fill in misinformation and assume negative, worst case scenario stories.

We must practice awareness of our thinking! We must be willing to question our thinking! And take our thoughts captive. (2 Corinthians 10:5) Then renew our minds on TRUTH! (Romans 12:2)

If we believe something, we will act as if it were true. Belief creates results.

Do we really believe that God can do anything, provide anything, change us? Do we really believe that God is working all things out for our good? Are we practicing trusting Him? Are we practicing living by faith? (Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27, Luke 1:37, Philippians 4:13)

This is a process. We practice believing. (Mark 9:23-24) Think. Act. Believe. As if it were true. And you will become. Practice believing. Until you believe.

Faith does not equal certainty. And trusting God doesn’t mean we become perfect, or that everything becomes easy, or we are happy all the time. I don’t get it right all the time because I am human. Thankfully, when I overreact or use bad tone the Holy Spirit is quick to remind me that, that is not how I act anymore. I am being made new. So, when I “mess up,” I ask for forgiveness and make amends. I practice accepting my humanness and practice self-compassion. (I try to no longer beat myself up for messing up.) This practice helps me to accept other people’s humanness and more readily offer compassion to them when they make mistakes.

We practice self-compassion and become more compassionate. We practice self-love and we become more loving. We practice calm and become more peaceful.

What are we practicing believing?

Attention, Israel! God, our God! God the one and only! Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that’s in you, love him with all you’ve got! Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 MSG

Keep seeking and discovering! God’s Truth! God’s better Way!