by Ps Daniel Yaw

Introduction
A blessed Chinese New Year to all of you.  That is my greetings to you and we do so to one another.  The usual greeting exchange is “Gong Xi Fa Cai” – it is a greeting of wishing each other prosperity.  That is not all that wrong but there is more than just prosperity or material prosperity.  It is a life of blessedness and we wish each other the favor and the blessings of God.
When a Jew enters the house of the Lord on Sabbath, he will recite the Shema which is actually found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “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.”

The Command to Love
The above sounds like a command and rightly so.  However, among the eastern religions around Israel, loving the LORD was revolutionary.  No other religion teaches about loving their God.  Devotion?  Yes, it is so.  Fear?  Again, it is constantly demanded.  Sacrifice?  That is a requirement.  But love?  That was something strange for one to be called to love God.
The God of Israel and his covenant with his people is based on a relationship that the very foundation of that relationship is love.
If there is to be any meaning to a relationship, any lasting value to a relationship, it has to be founded on love.  This is where the God of Israel and the God of Christianity stand out.  We love because He first loved us.
That is why we hear often that Christianity is not just a religion, it is a relationship and a relationship founded on love.  I wish you love and I pray that as we love the Lord, we learn always to love one another and love the world the way the Lord loves the world and his desire to save the world.

The Command on their hearts.
What is next in the verse is found in verse 6, which says, “And these words that I command you today shall be ON YOUR HEART.”
The question is “Why on the heart?”.  I guess that is the reservoir of the greatest of emotions and motivation.  What is on your heart?  What is on our hearts determines the way we conduct our lives.
The Heart directs our Path.
Ambitions are born from the heart.  Pursuit in life is born from the heart.  Our love life is also born from the heart.  When our heart is set on something, we will pursue it with great zeal.  It may be a career; it may be a value or it may be your life partner.  Once our heart is set on one thing, we are blind to all other things.  That is why the Lord commands his word on our hearts.
As children of God, loved by God and chosen by Him, what directs your hearts?  I trust that the Lord has placed his command and the greatest of all command to love Him on your heart this year.  That in everything you pursue, it is to the glory of God.  Then you will surely be blessed.
The Heart is restored by His Word.
The other aspect that I was thinking about is what is placed on your heart.  I think many of us have many things on our hearts.  And when the heartbreaks, whatever is on our heart will fall into it.
Think about it.  When your heart breaks, if it is bitterness in your heart, what falls into it is bitterness and unforgiveness.  If it is the idea of material prosperity, then disappointment with God will fall into it.  If it is doubt, abandonment of God will fall into it.  But if it is the Word of God and His love, what will fall into it is faithfulness.
That is why the Lord desires to have us place His word on our hearts.  

Conclusion
As we begin a new year, we have done so, Chinese New Year is a refresher, let us begin to place the love of God and his command on our hearts.  God bless our hearts.