The Faithful God and Commandment-Keeping Hearts

"Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations."           -Deuteronomy 7:9

GOD'S LOVE IS FAITHFUL

We began with the hymn "God of Our Fathers, We Come unto Thee."  This hymn "is a prayer that sends forth praise and thanks to our Father in Heaven while asking for him to continue the blessings he has poured out in the past. It is a hymn of partnership:  we ask him fervently to stay by us, and we promise, just as fervently, not to stray from him." (Our Latter-Day Hymns)

Accompanying this, Psalm 119:10 is so full of feeling:

"With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments."

We discussed the meaning of the word "faithful" in this context and talked about trust, loyalty, and keeping promises. This faithful partnership involves us keeping God's commandments. The most important thing to know about God's commandments is found in Matthew 22:37-40:

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

"This is the first and great commandment.

"The second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

 So all the commandments ever given can be categorized into these two commandments. We read Jesus Said by Debbie G. Harman and discussed all these commandments (and others we could think of) and how they fit into the first and second great commandments. 

For an example of how God's love is faithful, we read Anna's Prayer by Karl Beckstrand.

Then we turned to chapter 14 of John and read the many statements of Jesus telling his disciples that if they love Him (and love His Father) they'll keep His commandments.  We talked about the idea of loving others as ourselves, showing mercy and forgiveness and understanding.  Then I shared the song, "What If" by Five for Fighting and we discussed the ideas implied in the lyrics.  Here is a lyric video of the song (and I apologize if there are any inappropriate ads before the video--I really wish I could control those).

For a thoughtful concluding activity we made commandment-keeping hearts in the style of this Valentine printable, hearts made with drawings of commandments and how to keep them.