Concord Minute: Heart of a disciple

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and 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 road, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” - Deuteronomy 6:4-7

In Deuteronomy 6, Moses says what or, rather who, is the heart of a disciple. The LORD is the heart of a disciple. The LORD has a name: Yahweh. Yahweh is the personal name of our heavenly Father. Everyone has a personal name: Matthew, William, Jane, Phillip, Simon, Alexander. So too the triune God has a name: Yahweh. This name is also known as Yeshua or translated into English: Jesus.

Yahweh’s disciples do not follow a generic god. You and I don’t cling to a generic “one size fits all” god. You and I don’t live under grace before a generic “love.” You and I don’t discipline our hearts, minds and beings because some generic “god” says so! You and I live, love, work and play under the grace and sight of Yahweh Himself. Yahweh is the creator of heaven and earth who is found concretely in his Son Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is no generic “god.” Yahweh came in the flesh to claim you as his own disciple. Yahweh transforms your heart of stone into a beating heart of flesh, the flesh of His Son.

This is how Yahweh chooses to reform hearts. Moses preaches how the hearts of God’s disciples are formed: a follower of Yahweh is to listen to Him, to love Him with his/her whole being. The heart of a disciple is formed through hearing Yahweh speak. If our ears are turned off to God, His Word is rejected. Yet, God’s people can receive His Word with joy. Our hearts are reformed and restored as Yahweh intended. When a disciple follows his/her LORD, he/she has a beating heart ready to live life fully as his/her Creator intended. What love for us!

Thus the importance of sharing this love with our children. School has started in Southeast Missouri. Our area’s future population is learning how God’s creation functions and is supported by human activity. Whether a disciple or not, every child is learning how Yahweh has set everything into place for the sake of His creation. What then is left to teach or do? Shape the hearts of God’s disciples with His Word and promises. May parents, teachers and those within the church seek to bring the Word of love and Truth in Christ to new disciples this academic year!