Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. 

When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.

Have you ever dreamed of the most amazing outcome for your efforts in life? What would this dream look like?

In the middle of building a business, I have dreamed of some of these success markers: client levels, revenue levels, and employee retention levels. I vision cast for 1,000 clients, $25,000,000 in revenue for $4 million in net profit in 10 years. But these are all just numbers. Let’s add a little color to the dream. I want to provide a great financial future for my wife and children. I want to be able to travel and serve God in remote locations. I want to have a big kitchen and dining area to have a lot of friends over and to cater meals from. Better smokers, definitely. My kids want to have horses, a farm, dogs, etc.  A river property with a river boat is in the mix there too.

What motivates me to push hard in working is to see not only my immediate needs met, but a future vision of success, with lots of ways to bless others.

God is doing a bit of vision-casting for the Israelites here. He paints the picture: large, flourishing cities you did not build; houses fully-furnished and stocked, that you did not buy; wells you did not dig; and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant. These were all major success markers for the Israelites coming out of slavery and captivity with the Egyptians.

And God gave them this because they were his people. Not because of anything they gave him. And he only asked them to love him completely, with their whole heart, all of their strength, and the complete expanse of their soul. This included all of their passions, emotions, motivation, attitudes, and gifts too.

Today, because Jesus Christ saved us from our sins, we have an astronomically greater reward waiting for us in heaven. And we get to join him in his work on earth to transform lives and share the light of God. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (II Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:‭6‬)

The cost? It is still the same — he wants our hearts. He wants his LIGHT to SHINE there for all to see!

So the bottom line is this: If we love God wholeheartedly, we will shine with his radiance and have great riches in all areas of life!

Lord, teach my heart to believe you in all things. Increase my commitment to follow you, turn my heart’s passion to love you and your ways, and SHINE through me, I pray!