Next, Moses says “talk about them when you walk along the
road.” God feels loved when we impress his commands on our children during the everyday moments of life - wherever we are.
This year I’m faced with a decision for my son: how will he learn the French language.
I took French a few hours a week through grade 12, and I was
alright at it. I love
languages, and it was something I really wanted.
But, after school I didn’t have
anywhere to speak it. Its been about 15
years now, and I can ask “where is the bathroom” but I’m pretty much useless in
a real conversation.
I have some
friends, though, who went to French immersion, and you know they can speak it
as well today as they did back then? And
they don’t use it much more than I do in life today. So what was the difference? We learnt French for the same number of
years. We both had teachers that cared
about our learning, and we both worked hard.
What I was missing was living the culture of the French Language.
My Immersion friends lived it. They lived with the people, the holidays, the
culture, and they lived that language every day!
What I’m learning is that Christianity is more than a collection
of “grammatical rules” or “laws.” Its
more than behavior. It’s a culture! A way of
life. It’s the People of God – a nation that we
have been adopted into.
How do I want to pass down my faith? Through Christianity moments, an hour here
and there each week? No! I want to pass down my faith through
immersion!
As I’ve been trying to do this, I remember a day early this
year, when the kids and I had big plans, lots of plans, and we were all really
excited about the day, but then really early on things started to go wrong. In a short time it looked like it was all
going to flop.
At that time, when I noticed things going south, I chose to pull over the van each time something was going wrong and one of us prayed. And, you know, I don’t remember the details
of that day, what the plans were, but I remember clearly that that each
impossible situation resolved, and at the end of the day Isaac was able to say
to me, “Mom, see? God answered our
prayers 5 times today.”
Now, if I’d never stopped the car and turned them to God in
those moments, look what we would have missed!
I wonder how many of those opportunities I have missed with them.
We love God
with our whole self when we impress his commands on our children… during time
together at home, and when we impress his
commands on our children… during the everyday moments of life, wherever we are. But Moses doesn`t stop there.
The Third Instruction
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He goes on
to tell us that we love God with our whole selves when we impress his commands
on our children when we wake and when we go to sleep.
I HAVE come to love those bedtime moments when we reflect on
the day.
Isaac has a sensitive spirit, and he wants so badly to do things right. Yet there is this… almost visible battle within him when he wants something, and I say NO.
Isaac has a sensitive spirit, and he wants so badly to do things right. Yet there is this… almost visible battle within him when he wants something, and I say NO.
His internal dialogue is written on his face. No, don`t do it! … But
I must!... No!... Then almost immediately… Oh, why'd I do it?
There`s been many a night when he`s shared his struggle and
asked why he does these things, and how he can stop. It's opened conversations about Paul and his
struggles, and of course, most importantly, the all surpassing power of Christ
and sure victory in him!
You probably
have some sort of bedtime routine, too.
Maybe you read a Bible story, or pray together.
God says we love him with our whole selves when we impress his
commands at home, wherever we are, and as the day begins and ends.
Moses has one more set of instructions for us
about how to love God completely.
The Fourth Instruction.
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The passage
reads:
"Tie them as symbols on your hands, bind them on your
foreheads. Write them on the doorframes
of your houses and your gates."
Whaaaa? We're supposed to tie a bunch of stuff to our heads and
hands? This one doesn't translate nicely into the 21st Century.
Matthew 23:5 tells us that some of the
Pharisees did this to make it look like they were more holy than others, and
that was certainly not the intention behind this instruction.
When it says to keep the commands on your
hands, it means they should affect what you do, and when it says to bind them
on your forehead, it means they should affect our thought life. And not only that, our home should be an
environment that turns our kids to God.
That's what it means when it says to write the commandments on the
doorframes of your houses and gates.
So there we
have it, God's instructions for how to love him with our whole selves! By impressing his commands on our children...
1. As we enjoy
time together at home
· 2. During the
normal moments of life, wherever we are
· 3. At the
bookends of the day, and
· 4. As we
model our faith in our thought life, in our actions, and in the home environment
that we create.
The Good News
|
If we do these things, the Bible gives us this promise: Train up a child in the way he should go, and
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
(Proverbs 22:6) And we can rest
in our knowledge that we have made God feel loved completely, with every part
of who we are.
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