Moses
impressed upon the people of Israel the importance of meaningfully
remembering Yahweh:
Hear, O Israel: [Yahweh] is our God, [Yahweh] alone. You shall
love [Yahweh] your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with
all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.
Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when
you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your
hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts
of your house and on your gates.
When [Yahweh] your God has brought you into the land that he swore to
your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you…and when you
have eaten your fill, take care that you do not forget [Yahweh], who brought
you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery (Deuteronomy
6:4-10a, 12, New Revised Standard Version).
These
days it is very easy to forget about Yahweh. Through their mass media of
communication, the six Olympian gods thoroughly dominate the Olympian society
and culture in which we live. They control it so thoroughly that even we
Christians vividly remember them and callously forget the one true god.
Yet
Yahweh is the one and only odd god of truth, freedom, love, and vitality. He
demonstrated this by liberating his people, our ancestors, in 1491 BC (Ussher) from
the control of Jupiter, god of politics, as exercised by Pharaoh ruler
of Egypt.
We
express our love for Yahweh—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—by reading the Bible,
remembering its words, and keeping them. We remember and keep them by weaving
them into our daily lives. We do this by making them a meaningful part of our
daily conversation.
Happily,
Jesus is speaking anew through those words of Moses to us today. Happily also,
Numa (the Holy Spirit) is taking these words of Jesus and is empowering us to
hear and do them. As she does so, we will gradually improve in reading,
remembering, discussing, and living them—to our good and Yahweh’s glory!
Copyright © 2012
by Steven Farsaci.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
