Through the Bible - Judges 8-10, Luke 9:1-27
Good morning,
Today, we'll continue to consider what it means to "teach the next generation". Several years ago Wayne Watson wrote a song " The Urgency", it was about how we get caught up in "the urgency of the generally insignificant". Our world is so busy with "trivial pursuits" while the truly urgent things, building things that will last, somehow take a back seat in our lives.
Tom Halloday in his book "The Relationship Principles of Jesus" writes, "Here's the strange thing; the lesser value almost always overwhelms the greater. Lesser values take less faith and less effort. The lesser value seams easier, and so it will constantly draw you in. Because to all appearances you can reach a lesser value more quickly, you'll continually be tempted to make it your first priority."
Today's verses from Deuteronomy 6 echo some of the same words that we saw in Deut. 4 and 6. This kind of repetition should make it obvious to them and to us how important this topic is.
Deut 11:18 "Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. NKJV
It's a lot easier to fill our days running kids around to soccer and little league than it is to set aside time for family devotions and other ways to focus the attention of our families on our faith. But those times that parents spend around the Word of God as a family will pay greater dividends over the long haul.
Patrick Henry, more famous for his passionate cry "give me liberty or give me death" made the following statement towards the end of his life regarding the importance of God over these lesser "trivial" things:
"I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian religion. If they had that and I had not given them one schilling, they would be rich; and if they had not that, and I had given them all the world, they would be poor." quoted in Holloday's "Relationship Principles"
It's never easy, that's why it requires diligence, it's much easier to let those times pass without putting the effort into it. It's much easier to put it off saying, "we'll start it tomorrow", but all too often tomorrow never comes. Start today.
Maybe your kids are grown, you can still reach out. What about your grandparents. Kids can invest time in their parents. We can invest time in other kids lives at church or in organizations such as Young Life. It wont be wasted time.
Invest in time in God's Word, reinvest it. deposit it in your children, your children's children and others.
Today's devotional is dedicated to the memory of my Uncle Don who passed away last week. He loved the Lord and was a founding member of his church. He passed on his legacy to his children, two of whom are serving the Lord as pastors.
Share and live out your faith " Tell your children about it, Let your children tell their children, And their children another generation. Joel 1:3 NKJV
In Christ,
Mike
Deut 11:16-29
16 "But be careful. Don't let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the Lord and serve and worship other gods. 17 If you do, the Lord's anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce its harvests. Then you will quickly die in that good land the Lord is giving you.
18 "So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.
22 "Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Show love to the Lord your God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him. 23 Then the Lord will drive out all the nations ahead of you, though they are much greater and stronger than you, and you will take over their land. 24 Wherever you set foot, that land will be yours. Your frontiers will stretch from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north, and from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 25 No one will be able to stand against you, for the Lord your God will cause the people to fear and dread you, as he promised, wherever you go in the whole land.
26 "Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! 27 You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. 28 But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before. NLT
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