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Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
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Deuteronomy 6:7
Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
The primary role for parents is to bring their children up to love, honour, respect, know and follow the Lord. So often today, this role has been given over to the Sunday School teacher or Church Pastor/Minister. That is an abdication of the role and responsibility of the parents. Your children will follow your example and often it is not until we have children of our own and see them grow up that we get a glimpse in the mirror of our own selves.
How often we chastise our kids for our own faults. Then it is usually not until ‘in the cold light of day’ that we suddenly realise what they have done is exactly what we would have done, or just the same as we did at their age. Those of us who are wise take notice and take stock of our ways, attitudes, actions and words.
What is the point of ‘sending’ our children to Sunday School if the Bible is a dead Book to us? Why force it down their throats if we abandoned its teaching years ago and it ‘does nothing for me’?
If you never read the Bible or pray to the Lord, or you’ve never had a vibrant relationship with God, don’t expect your child to ‘pick them up’ or ‘start the habit’ by learning from someone else. You have a responsibility before God to set the example.
Here in Deuteronomy, God was not only telling His people that they needed a vibrant faith in Him, but also instructing them how to protect and preserve society. The responsibility rested squarely on the shoulders of both parents. In Israeli society, we see clearly the significance of their twin roles: the Jewish mother in preserving Jewish traditions, through food and instruction, and the Jewish father through leading the celebration of the Feasts and observance of the Sabbath.
Not all traditions are meaningless and boring. They can act as a vivid reminder of our Christian heritage. It’s interesting that sometimes the actual words Jesus spoke are recorded for us in their original language (see Mark 5:41 & Matthew 27:46); Jesus often spoke in word pictures - parables - (see Luke 15) and He instituted the ‘Lord’s Supper’ (see 1 Corinthians 11:17-26). Why not create your own ‘family traditions’?
If you are a parent, or about to become one, may I challenge you? - Make Jesus a part of the family. Talk about your Creator as you walk and drive out in the country or by the coast. Show God’s handicraft in the flowers, trees and birds that visit your garden. Enjoy the sunsets and marvel at the stars. Discover dawns and dew-adorned cobwebs. Remember His provision at each of your meal times (i.e., say ‘Grace’ - even at McDonald’s).
Have you heard of a Mezuzah? It is a metal or wood object attached to the outside doorposts of Jewish homes and offices. Inside are written the words of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 because it says, “Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates” (v 9).
Read all the verses again:
“Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord, is one. Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them upon your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
The strict Jews tie bands around their arms and around their heads as a reminder to keep these instructions and to keep them focused.
Obey these words, and you too will protect and preserve your children and our society.
And guess what? You will have a lot less trouble with your children than the parents who don’t follow these instructions experience.
(One of my most precious memories is of our eldest son, while he was only about 4 years old. I had taken him to visit the Caves in Cheddar, England. We entered a deep cavern, with many other visitors, and got this incredible view of the beautiful stalactites and stalagmites. A truly awe-inspiring sight. Out of the silence a tiny but shrill voice was heard ... “Jesus made all these - didn’t He, Daddy?”)
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