The Greatest Law!

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 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 ESV)

Are you familiar with the Jewish prayer called “The Shema”? If you have spent any time around a church, I’m sure you have heard it. The Shema prayer is from Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” The first word we translate as “Hear” is the Hebrew word “Shema”; Christians, like Jews, would concur that the LORD our God is indeed one.

But the beauty of this prayer is that it doesn’t end with this magnificent proclamation; the prayer goes on to say in Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” If we look at 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”, my mind immediately went back to The Shema, I know, weird isn’t it the way our minds work sometimes. But stay with me for a moment and see if you agree.

As you read the book of James, it becomes clear that he is writing to Christians who were struggling to put their beliefs into practice. James, throughout his letter, is basically saying that simply saying “you believe” is different from allowing that belief to work through your actions. James tells his readers, and us, that we need to put our faith into action. James' intended audience was Jewish believers living outside Jerusalem. So, his original audience would have understood his references to the Old Testament truths a bit differently than we do today. James was saying to put into practice what they were used to praying morning and evening, The Shema, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Which is exactly what James is saying in his letter. God, from the very beginning of time, has told His people not just to hear, but to do!

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” needs to make a difference in the way His people live their lives. Just hearing and giving lip service to the truth that “The LORD our God, our LORD is one” doesn’t really make a lot of difference in our lives, does it? It’s very easy for us to say that hearing is believing, but true believing is doing. The Shema doesn’t stop with Hear O Israel, but continues with if you have heard and believe then “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” You see, faith produces action, which is exactly what James is teaching in his letter.

Also, do you remember what Jesus said when the Pharisee lawyer asked, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” That’s right, Jesus answered with what the lawyer and everyone listening knew to be the second part of the “Shema”, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And followed up that answer with, “This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:35-40. Jesus said, the true intent of God’s heart when He gave His people the Shema was to show them to be doers and not hearers only of what they say they believe.

So, looking at James 1:22, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves,” it really isn't such a stretch for my mind to go to the Shema after all, was it?

God has always wanted His people to put their beliefs into action. My friends, let’s live what we say we believe in our hearts through our actions.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"