How can I be great?

Deuteronomy 6:5

“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

What does God want from us? He wants us to love him with everything we have.

And, that makes sense! After all, he loved us with everything he had! He lived for us, he died for us, he rose for us, and he called us to trust that those things are true! What love! And so it’s no surprise that God would want us to love him in return.

But there is a big surprise in the verse. Did you catch what God called himself? He called himself “the LORD your God.” Focus on that word “your.” Do we see what God is doing? He’s reminding us that he’s established a wonderful relationship with you! He doesn’t call himself “THE” God – which he could have done. Instead, he calls himself “your God!” And by the way, in the Hebrew, it’s a second person singular. In other words, God is speaking directly to you, to me, assuring us that he is your God, personally.

That God would love a sinner like me? That’s a great surprise!

Thankfully surprised, just like you,

pastor