This passage contains one of the most well-known portions in the Bible (well, the beginning portion anyway) and one I really love!
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deut 6:4-9
Some people have used these verses as a reason for homeschooling. And though I'm not going to argue that, I will submit that the point of the verses is to make communicating the truths about God and His Word to our children a part of our every day lives, not something we reserve for Sundays. We need to seize every teachable moment we can, we need to live out our faith daily both in word and deed, we need to be purposeful about teaching them about relationship with Jesus. Above all, we need to realize that teaching our children about God is not the responsibility of the church, it's not the responsibility of a Christian school, it's the responsibility of us, their parents.
The verse that really stuck out to me today was the very first one in our passage....
Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, O Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. Deut 5:1 (emphasis mine)
My Life Application Bible says....
The people had entered into a covenant with God, and Moses commanded them to hear, learn and obey his statutes. Christians also have entered into a covenant with God through Jesus Christ and should be resonsive to what God expects. Moses' threefold command to the Israelites provides excellent advice for all God's followers. Hearing is absorbing and accepting information about God. Learning is understanding its meaning and implications. Following is putting into action all we have learned and understood. All three parts are essential to a growing relationship with God.
I'd say that sums it up pretty well!
One quick comment about the Luke passage. My study bible pointed out the difference between Matthew & Luke's genealogies - Matthew's goes back to Abraham and shows that Jesus was related to all Jews. Luke's goes back to Adam, showing that Jesus is related to all human beings (as his audience was primarily Gentile). Just a little tidbit.
Tomorrow's passage: Deuteronomy 8-10, Luke 4:1-30
2 comments:
I like that verse from Deuteronomy and the reminder that we need to make sure that our words and actions in every situation reflect what God has taught us to do.
I like the Hear, Learn, Follow application you highlighted. As a teacher, I want my students to listen to what I am saying as I am teaching, understand what it is that is being taught, and apply what they have learned. As God teaches us. may we experience the same.
Sorry I'm so late in commenting... I fell behind a bit this weekend. Thanks for the reminder that our children's Christian education is something we should be consciously teaching them every day. Definitely something I need to work harder at remembering!
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