Starting point
Deuteronomy 6: Attention, Israel! GOD, our God! GOD the one and only! Love GOD, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that’s in you, love him with all you’ve got!
Even elaborate systems of thought can be distilled down to basic concepts. The Shema of Deuteronomy 6 is not all there is to God’s intentions for us, but it’s the center point for all else, the foundation upon which all else is laid. God is one. He exists. All that we can hope for and all that we can ever expect to know starts here: God is God. And, God desires our love. He wants us to love him without reservation; with absolute abandon. This isn’t all that we should know about God’s desire for us, but it starts here. Everything else: the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament and the Beatitudes of the New Testament, the story of Creation of Genesis to the promise of restoration of John’s Revelation…all of it starts here. God is and our relationship with this “I Am” is founded on love.
Take Away: The route to building something that lasts is to start with a solid foundation.