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Can a Family Fulfill the Greatest Commandment as a Team?

Growing up I was familiar with this translation of the Greatest Commandment: 

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV)

Fairly straight forward. But recently I read this same verse in a translation by David Stern called the Complete Jewish Bible. This translation specifically attempts to highlight things in the Hebrew easily missed by a non-Hebrew speaking audience.

Here is the verse in this version: “you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources.” (Deuteronomy 6:5 CJB)

What struck me is the translation of “strength” as “resources”.

The Hebrew word used in this verse is ma’od which is the word for a lot or abundance. Love God with all of your muchness. That’s why David Stern translated the word as resources. “Strength” sounds like loving God with your muscles or physical energy, but the concept is much broader. We are to love God with all the physical resources we have.

One of our family’s pillars is “Steward and Expand: We maximize the productivity and impact of every asset under our stewardship and expand its territory according to its fruitfulness.” This is a call to work as a team to increase our strength as a family for the purpose of serving our God-given mission. We are trying to love the Lord with all of our resources, and that includes efforts to faithfully grow our resources.

This strikes me as such a practical way family teams can work together to fulfill the greatest commandment. Resources are often stewarded best by a whole family and can be developed and deployed across generations.

Do you have a plan for how your family will increasingly love the Lord with all of your resources?

Jeremy

P.S. Father’s Day is upon us and I wanted to tell you about a product some friends of mine have developed to bless family teams. It’s a great way to help your family remember through using a time capsule. You can find their products at https://www.tenuer.com/ and if you use the code FAMILYTEAMS you’ll get 10% off.


This entry is a part of Jeremy’s Journal, a newsletter Jeremy sends out every Wednesday morning to encourage you on your parenting journey. You can sign up to get them every Wednesday here.

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