Message from Chuck Allen on August 17, 2022
In this episode of the weekday podcast, Pastor Chuck Allen dives into Deuteronomy 6, highlighting the call to love God with everything we have and to make that love evident in our daily lives. He stresses that this commandment should be taught intentionally, especially within our homes, where faith is rooted and shared. Drawing on wisdom from figures like Saint Augustine and Socrates, Pastor Chuck reminds listeners that passing down faith requires active living and teaching, not just tradition. He encourages everyone to notice and share God’s goodness daily.
I'm so glad you've joined me on this weekday podcast. As Rachel often says, you picked a great day to be here today.
I want to pick up where I left off the other day in Deuteronomy chapter six. I read the other day from the message that said, attention, Israel, God, our God, God, the one and only love God, your God with all your heart, love him with all that is you, love him with all you've got. The concept being that we can, when we give our love away, we can grow in that love to the degree that love is what literally changes our perspective and our actions.
I suppose the real question is, how do we love in such a way that literally our world is changed all around us? And that is, we must learn to love and then put it into action. So in verse six, in Deuteronomy six, the text picks up once again in the message that says, write these commandments that I have given you today on your hearts. Give them inside of you. Did you hear that? 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.
I mean, I love this. This is one of those times in which we recognize that we are to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and all of our strength.And then as Saint Augustine once said, love God, then do as you please. Not because we will then love God and go off the rails, but that we would love God to the degree that it changes our actions and our will is surrendered to him. And we take on his will. This is what it's all about. This is how we live in faith. We teach the law continually.
Matthew 22 says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. And this is the first and greatest commandment. Well, a person like me and you, we have to experience the love this commandment requires before we can teach it to other people.
Be careful what you set your heart on, for it might come true. This commandment is not automatically transferred from one generation to another. I mean, that you've heard me say, assuming that you were born into a Christian home doesn't make you a Christian any more than being born in a bakery makes you a donut. It's not automatically transferred. We are and do have responsibility to teach it to our family, our friends, and those around us. And this educating must be done in a diligent manner. The home's to be the center for conserving and propagating the truth of God's word. Home is where life makes up its mind. Moses understood that the greatness of the nation of Israel depended upon the teaching of the commandments in the home.
As a nation, we need desperately to apply this truth ourselves. A fellow who had served as a chaplain for many, many years at a state penitentiary said, and I'll quote, out of 1700 convicts, I found only one who had been brought up in a home where they had a family altar. And that man was later found innocent of the crime of which he'd been charged.
Socrates once asked fellow citizens, why do you turn and scrape every stone to gather wealth and take so little care of your children do one day you must relinquish it all. My friend, the instruction here is that we might make lessons of everyday life. It's not about building an altar in your home. It's about living an altar. It's not about necessarily having a quiet time. It's about pointing out the goodness of God and everything.
So today in your own life, look around God's wonderful creation and point out the goodness of God. Thanks so much for listening in today's weekday podcast.
