In Search Of A Better Tomorrow

Time Alone With God daily devotional

Written by Pastor Phil Stout, JAXNAZ Church

Thursday, November 3

Read: Deuteronomy 6:1-7

Deuteronomy 6:1-7
New International Version (NIV)

Love the Lord Your God
6 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 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.

Start

Consider: This week we’ve been meditating on the family that the Lord gave us. In addition to the families in which we were born, we were adopted into God’s family—the household of faith. He is not simply my Father. He is our Father. We can only fully live in the reality of the Fatherhood of God when we live in relationship with one another.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)

Among the many responsibilities of a family is the vital task of passing our faith on to the next generation. In the Old Testament, God passionately calls us to this work.

“These commandments that I give you today are to be on 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.” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

What are “these commandments” that we must impress on our children? We find the answer in the previous verse. The command is to…

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (6:5)

And, of course, Jesus affirmed this. He taught us that all of life hinges on loving God and loving God’s image-bearers (Matthew 22:36-40).

So what is it that we’re supposed to teach our children? Over time we’ll teach them many things, but the most essential thing we are supposed to teach them is how to love. In order to do that, we must learn how to love. We can’t teach love academically. We can’t teach it as a series of ideas. We can only teach it by the manner in which we live.

As you tuck them in and then wake them in the morning, as you drive them to school and pick them up from youth group, as you sit at home and gather at the dinner table, teach them how to love. How to love family. How to love friends. How to love enemies. How to love the household of faith. How to love God. Teach them by showing them.

Pray: “Lord, teach me how to love so that my life will lead others to love you more and to love all who are made in your image.”