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Day 54, or February 23rd. Love God and keep His

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commandments. Our thoughts today are from Deuteronomy

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11, verse 1. Love the Lord your God and keep

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His requirements, His decrees, His laws, and

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His commands always. First, the big picture surrounding

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this verse. Moses reminds the people that they

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need to do what he's saying and not just listen

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to him. He mentions a recent miracle that everyone

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had experienced. During their wilderness wanderings,

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none of their clothing or sandals wore out, and

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they remained very comfortable for the whole

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forty years. He also recalls breaking the two

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tablets of stone upon which was written the Ten

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Commandments. I'm sure he never forgot this act

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of vandalism. They were of extreme value to him

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and the people, and we can only dream of their

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value today if they had survived. The children

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of Israel are about to cross the Jordan River

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into the Promised Land, and Moses stresses that

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they must be faithful to God's word and put into

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practice everything he is giving them from God's

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law. Today's action step. Moses lays a heavy

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emphasis on reading and studying the Word of

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God. He tells the people, they're to love it.

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It's not an option, any more than loving each

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other is, if we take the words of Jesus seriously

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in John 13 verse 34. Love each other, just as

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I have loved you, you should love each other.

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As we study something from the Bible each day,

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it's worth remembering that this is not an optional

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extra. We are commanded to do it. Within Judaism,

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it was the norm to read all the works of your

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rabbi many times. So remember, Jesus is our rabbi,

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and so much more besides. This book covers highlights

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through the whole Bible, and it is our prayer

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that it will whet your appetite to take the next

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step and read or listen to the Bible text too.

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As a test, why not read the chapter which contains

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the daily verse? Or you may prefer to listen

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to the audio version of the Bible recorded by

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the writer of this book.