See Him Everywhere, Love Him Everywhere

In our Old Testament reading this morning, we read the famous Shema of Israel, the Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Here, God reminds Israel that they are to love God with all that they are, and that they are to teach that faith to their children by talking about it all the time and putting reminders of it everywhere: on the refrigerator, on the dashboard of the pickup, and at city hall.

One of the things we learn as we read the Bible and see what the world around us means is that God is our Father and we are His children, and that means He shows us how to do it. He created this world in order to constantly teach us about loving Him, and He decorated this world with constant reminders so that we would remember to love Him. The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament sheweth His handiwork. Day unto day, uttereth speech, night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. His invisible attributes have been clearly seen by all, since the creation of the world. Creation can’t stop talking about God. For example, trees are constantly reminding us of people, of God’s people, of wicked people, of fruitfulness and life, and reminding us and pointing us to the cross of Jesus, our tree of life.

So Ellis and Hope, as you bring Lila to be marked with the name of Jesus, to be claimed by our Triune God in baptism in obedience to God’s Word, I remind you to see Jesus everywhere. See Him in His Word, the Bible, see Him at His table, in the trees, in the rocks, in the stars, see Him in your story, every day, everywhere. Don’t ever stop talking about Him. See Him so that you might love Him more and more and then teach Lila how to see Him and love Him. Put reminders everywhere. Plant a tree in your living room and decorate it with fruit and lights and talk about how Jesus has made us fruitful, how Jesus has washed us clean and caused the light of His Spirit to fill us to be light for the world. Love God with all that you are. Which is to say, see His goodness and glory everywhere and in everything. Which is to say, by the grace of God, teach your children how to see and love Him all their days.