In Sunday school this morning one of the key passages was from Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 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.”

The word “Hear” at the beginning of this passage is from the Hebrew word, shema.  Our Sunday school books says this, “The expression was meant to evoke a sense of urgency in hearers and impress on them the need for action.”

I feel like it is so easy to just take in the word of God, to listen at church, or when I’m teaching the kids their memory verse.  It is much harder to actually do something about what I am hearing.

I use the phrase “listen and obey” with my children all the time.  It was an “aha” moment for me this morning when we went over the word “shema”.

God wants me to “listen and obey” when I read His word.  He wants me to make the decision to serve Him, to apply His word in a way that allows Him to transform me.