Shaping the Future Now

At the heart of this message lies one of the most ancient and powerful prayers in human history — the Shema. For 3,400 years, Jewish people have recited these words morning and evening: ‘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.’ But what makes this passage from Deuteronomy 6 so transformative is its context: God isn’t giving us a checklist to earn His love. He’s already rescued us. The Israelites had been delivered from slavery in Egypt before receiving these commands. Similarly, we’ve been saved through Christ’s sacrifice before we’re called to obey. This changes everything. Our obedience isn’t about earning God’s approval — it’s our response to grace already given.

The message challenges us to examine whether we’re loving God comprehensively or compartmentalizing our faith. Do our families see us pray? Do our coworkers know we follow Jesus by how we love others? The call is to love God passionately with our whole being, practically through daily habits that shape our lives, and publicly in ways that make our faith visible to the watching world. Most powerfully, we’re reminded that faith is passed from generation to generation not through perfect answers but through authentic devotion — a devotion that’s caught more than taught.