“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deut. 6:4). This command is the orthodox Jew’s confession of faith. Israel was to confess there was only one God, and they were to pledge their lives only to Him (Deut. 6:5). Israel wasn’t to make any graven images to worship (Deut. 4:15-20). Israel’s singular devotion was to be for God alone, not to something that they had created. When they stood at the foot of Mt. Sinai, they didn’t see any image of God, rather they only heard His voice, and seen His power (Deut. 4:33-36). Unlike all of the other religions that Israel would encounter, their God couldn’t be seen, but He could speak and perform wonders (Deut. 4:27-28; 5:22-24).
Jesus said this was the first and greatest commandment (Mt. 22:36; Mk. 12:18). Jesus quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 also said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Mt. 22:37). Pure devotion to God involves your heart, soul, and mind. In essence, this is the entirety of our lives. One cannot love God entirely without also loving God’s Laws. We must learn to delight in God’s Law in the inner man (Rom. 7:22). We should hide the Word of God in our hearts that we don’t sin against Him (Ps. 119:11). We must meditate upon His Word day and night (Ps. 1:2). Finally, we must never forget the Word of God, so our souls never slip from our hands (Ps. 119:109).