I will make Your name to be remembered in all generations;
Therefore the people shall praise You forever and ever.
Psalm 45:17
LORD Jesus, we praise You for Your great name. Your name is above all other names, and at Your name every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that You are God. We thank You, precious LORD, that we can come before our God and that we can pray in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah! Enable us to live a life that is setting an example and one that is pointing to You, the Savior and King over all the earth—so that many who have not done so yet, will bow the knee and confess that You are God. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray. Amen.
Today’s reading of our Bible Reading Plan (see sidebar) includes some of my most loved Bible verses:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your strength.And these words
which I command you today
shall be in your heart.You shall teach them diligently to your children,
and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,
when you walk by the way,
when you lie down,
and when you rise up.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
Why do I love these verses so much? One of the reasons being, that the Pastor’s wife of our former church kept reading them to us Sunday after Sunday, right after the last worship song was over—so the verses I have heard over and over again are anchored inside my heart now. (Thank you, precious Janice, for your faithfulness!) Another reason, why I love them so much, is, because they expand on what Jesus says in John 14:15
If you love Me, keep My commandments.
You see, the starting point is, and has to be, love—loving the LORD Jesus and putting Him first. If we miss that point, we will always labor to gain acceptance, to earn salvation, and to keep up with other people who seem to master their life perfectly.
Do we care what people will think of us? Will we do anything to clear our debt, to keep our name clean, to have a good reputation, to gain the favor of men?
Or, do we make it our business what people will think of Christ the LORD? Are we telling others what He has done for us to clear our debt? How far will we go for His name’s sake? Are we good ambassadors for Christ—seeing that His good reputation will stand?
The question of Tuesday’s blog remains, How can we use what God has given to us for His glory and not for our own pleasure?
First, we need to love the LORD with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength. This is the foundation so that His commandments will make sense to us—each one of them. And then, only then, we will be able to teach our children everywhere and at every hour of the day. And then, our hand’s work, our thinking, and the aroma in our house will be as unto the LORD.
Everywhere and All the Time
1 Love the LORD your God.
2 Obey His WORD.
3 Do all as unto HIM.
Give glory to His name today.