“Your actions will either underline what you say or undermine what you say.” —Dr. Graeme Cole

We recently learned from Deuteronomy 6 the greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5). Immediately prior to this statement we find the word “Hear” in verse 4. We’ve seen this before. The word “hear” in Hebrew (shema) means “listening AND obeying”. It is not enough to know the right answers or say the right things. Your actions prove that you’ve really listened to God.

Deuteronomy 6 immediately takes the greatest commandment and applies it to how we raise the next generation. The rest of the chapter (vv. 6-25) tells us how to pass along this most important task to our kids and grandkids. There is a central issue here: do your actions align with the fact that you say you love God?

Dr. Graeme Cole, the dean of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, crystallized this in a simple statement: “Your actions will either underline what you say or undermine what you say.“

Are your actions underlining what you claim to believe? Or are your actions undermining what you claim to believe? We need to be reminded to examine our daily actions, especially because the next generation is watching. If you need to make adjustments or if you need to take a u-turn, now is the time!