NOTES for Deu 6:1-25

We all try to live by the commandments, which in one way or another come down to those God gave Moses in the wilderness. We often need to make a deliberate effort of will to obey them. Sometimes—in the best case—obeying them becomes natural and habitual for us. But do we realize that the chief motive for living by the commandments should be neither habit, nor their agreement with ordinary moral standards, nor even a desire for moral perfection, but only love for God and reverence before Him? Without this, a pious life becomes sanctimony and hypocrisy.