Deuteronomy 5:6-7 – Loving God, our most important task in life

Moses began in Deuteronomy 5:6-21 by repeating the Ten Commandments God gave to the children of Israel at Horeb. In the New Testament, we saw how Jesus so insightfully summarised the Commandments into two critical calls to His followers. The first is a call to love God with all that one has, one’s heart, mind, soul, and strength. The second is for one to love one’s neighbors as oneself. A scrutiny of the Ten Commandments will show how accurate Jesus’ summary was. In the first four Commandments, we have a clear call to love God wholeheartedly. In the next six, we see a call to consider our neighbors and to love them too.

Bear in mind that the Ten Commandments were given to a people whom God had redeemed from bondage for Himself. These Commandments were never given as a  means for redemption. God gave this set of Commandments after He had redeemed them. So when God’s redeemed lived according to them, they would better reflect their calling as His unique people. Hence, they should live out these Commandments in grateful response to His great overtures.         

In the opening of the first commandment in verses 6-7, God began by asserting His greatness saying, “I am the Lord your God.” Underscoring this declaration was the emphasis of His covenant relationship with them. In telling them that it was He who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery, God was pointing to His mercy towards them. If the people of Israel consider this mighty deliverance of God, it should elicit a deep sense of gratitude and indebtedness to Him. This first Commandment is fundamental. It provides the basis for why His redeemed people must remain faithful to Him. To turn and acknowledge other gods would constitute a betrayal to this only true and living God. Besides, all the other supposed gods would not have any power to do anything for them. It would be foolhardy to turn from the genuine God to the spurious gods.

The first call for all of us is to love God. This begs the question, “How should we love God?” We must love Him passionately, purposefully as well as wholeheartedly. We love Him with all that we have – heart, mind, soul, and strength. Our quest in life must be to know God and to love Him above everything else. Let us put Him before all things in life. He is the supreme God!