For as long as I can remember, I’ve known and said the “Shema”—“Shema Yisrael Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echod.” Don’t worry if you can’t pronounce it right—it’s in Hebrew! It means “Hear O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is One.” (Deut. 6:4).

We Jews, including those of us who know and follow Yeshua (Jesus) as our Lord and Messiah, just call all that “the Shema”—meaning “Listen up!” Here’s a message everyone needs to hear and heed– the foundation of all truth, the foundation and reason for our existence, the basis for our lives.

But it doesn’t stop here. It builds. The truth of who He is leads into “Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.” (Deut. 6:5). Our minds are included in the word “soul”, since the soul includes our mind, will, and emotions. That’s why Jesus quoted it that way when He was asked by the Pharisee-law-expert what the greatest commandment is (Mat. 22:36-37). Also, the more we know Him, the more we love Him, which is why we begin with the “Shema” of who He is.

Note the word “all”. Real love is never half-hearted, “half-baked”, half-full of effort, or half-thought-out. Nothing gets in its way. Nothing else is allowed to detract from it or take priority over it.

Imagine someone telling their mate, “Sorry, honey, but I wasn’t really thinking when I decided to marry you—that’s why I’d rather be with other people or doing other things than spending time with you, and besides, loving you just takes more energy than it’s worth.” See how long that marriage lasts!

Yet, without realizing it, that’s in essence what we do to the Lord when we don’t go all-in with our love! The “all” in the commandment to love Him, means, “give it all we’ve got in every area of our lives, every aspect of who we are—emotions, thoughts, abilities, bodily strength, the way we make decisions (our will)!

Does this mean we can’t love anyone or anything else—our wife/husband, children, grandchildren, parents, siblings, extended family, friends, dog, cat, bunny rabbit…? No. It means the love we have for all of these stems from the love we have for and from the Lord, who enables us to love others (1 Jn. 4:19). By keeping all-in love for Him front and center, we can love and do well for everyone else.

Thankfully it doesn’t even stop here. It keeps building. Now that we’ve begun to love the Lord completely, nothing held back, based on Who He is, it’s time to pass it on—to the next generation, so they can pass it on.

If someone hadn’t already done that, we wouldn’t even be here reading His Word and talking about loving Him. Thankfully they did. Either our ancestors or someone else’s shared His commandments and love with their children and children’s children so it could get passed down to us. Even if our own parents didn’t do that, someone else’s parents did, and they passed it along to us.

Now it’s our turn to pass it down: “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.” (Deut. 6:6-9)

In other words—teach about Him and His ways to the next generation, and bring Him into every conversation, everywhere we go and stay, all day. And let our homes and lifestyles show that publicly. If we don’t have our own children, do that with someone else’s. Actually, even if we do, there’s plenty of next-generation “children”, even grown ones, we need to share with, especially if no one else is!

In fact, on the day I read Deut. 6:4-9 in my devo time, our son and daughter-in-love had their baby shower for their first child. At the end, the emcee gave us grandparents the opportunity to share encouragement and wisdom for them. Immediately the Lord brought the above to mind, and I joyfully shared it with everyone there. Talk about Holy Spirit confirmation to pass it down from generation to generation!

They’ve since had their baby and named him Judah Atlas– conveying the meaning of Enduring Praise to the Lord! He’s now almost four months old, and from day one they’ve been passing down the Lord’s total and forever love to him. So have we, even from a distance, as we look forward to seeing him again in person in a couple of weeks and giving him some hands (and arms and lips)-on extension of His love!

You can do the same. Pass it down— to your children, grandchildren, and anyone else He brings you to share with!