All of scripture is filled with principles meant as "safety guides" for our lives as much as they are meant to point us toward the heart and mind of God. The Ten Commandments - the basis for evaluating if we are "keeping" God's intention for our lives in an honorable manner. There are times when we are unaware of the dangers which lie right in our path - but if we will remain consistently faithful to the truths (principles) we are given, we should know safety as we travel these paths. God has a tremendous desire for us to turn to him with our whole hearts, not out of obligation, but out of love. He knows the conscious decisions which must be made in choosing to turn our eyes consistently toward God, not being swayed by the other things which can cloud our sight. He also knows the tremendous amount of focus it takes to maintain focus!
One God - not many. This must be established first and foremost in our hearts and minds if we are to grow in Christ, for all of our battles (emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually) are really based on this idea of who will be "God" or "god" in our lives. There are lots of "gods" we could bow down before - like money, career, collectibles, people. There is but one God we are called to bow down before - God, the Lord of heaven and earth, the creator of all things, and the one who commands the course of all things which are and will be. Any time we allow something or someone other than God to be in the position of a "god" in our lives, we will be setting ourselves up to falter and ultimately know failure. The only time we know safety from external and internal forces is when the right "God" is in control!
Love requires three elements: Heart, Soul, and Strength. Heart is the mind, will, and emotions. The seat of what makes us uniquely who we are and helps to determine what it is we believe, do, and feel. We make connection with the one true God at the heart level. We are inherently "feeling" creatures, but we don't live solely by what we "feel", and we are thinking creatures, but we don't live solely by what we can understand or imagine. We need faith and this requires will. Will helps us move beyond our "maybe this could be true" into the place of "I know God isn't going to lie to me, so I will trust this to be true". The soul is what sets man apart from animal and all other forms of life. The soul is the part of man which lives on eternally - even after decay and age has taken its toll on the body. In reminding us that love involves the soul, we are reminded that love is eternal - not momentary, not time limited, but everlasting and abiding. Strength is part and parcel with heart and soul - for both would falter if there was no strength behind the commitment to love.
The commandments are not just to be recited, memorized, and written in stone - they are to be "written" upon the heart. God is best honored when he sees us connecting scripture in our lives with the actions we take. When he speaks to us to keep him first, we remind ourselves our emotions cannot continue to guide our every action. Sometimes this means we literally have to remind our emotions what scripture says: "God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind!" Then we need to remind ourselves over and over again to put the fear behind us, take the steps we are asked to take, and trust that we will have the wisdom to respond as we should and the power to live in ways which seem contrary to the present set of circumstances.
Scripture is to be the topic of discussion and the consistent "interloper" in our decision-making processes. We often don't think to turn to scripture for our "normal" activities and decisions of the day. Some of these are just by rote - such as brushing our teeth and washing the dishes. Trust me on this - it is not God's will for us to have rotten teeth or to have cockroaches in the kitchen because the sink is filled with dirty dishes! We don't need scripture to tell us some of this stuff. We need to see what scripture defines and then live by that definition.
Using scripture at transition points in our lives is quite important - this may be the inference of the doorways, roadways, and gates in our passage. We come and go by these passages. In other words, all our comings and goings are to align with scripture - it is to guide us in our decision making and to keep us on the straight and narrow. Transition points are often the places where we get "hung up" the easiest because they are places and points where we have to make decisions which may not be comfortable for us or may be "new". When we face these transitions, we need the solid foundation of what has already been outlined for us as principles by which we can make decisions as to the actions we should take - principles found in scripture.
Today we might be challenged a little in the areas of focus, trust, and obedience. Maybe we are challenged in the area of getting to really know scripture for ourselves and not being reliant upon another to continually unveil the hidden secrets for us. Or perhaps we are just challenged to keep our focus off things which really don't matter and remaining attentive to the things which do. Either way, we are doing exactly what God intended when these words were penned! Just sayin!