Love it. Live it.
Deuteronomy means “second law” because it is in this book where Moses re-tells the law that God gave him on the mountain, to the people. Would you be surprised to discover that the word “heart” is in this book almost fifty times? I know I was. Who would think that a book full of the law would be full of heart? Actually, the law was God’s covenant with His people and He was speaking from His heart when He gave it to Moses. Moses was sure to emphasize that when he retold it to the people.
It is in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 where the subject of teaching children comes up. Here is what He says about teaching children:
“Hear, O Israel:The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as front-lets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (NKJV).
When I read this passage, what sticks out to me as the glue in making it happen is what is in the bold type above. Only when we, the parents, have hidden God’s truths in our heart can we teach them diligently to our children. This verse, translated into today’s language, speaks of talking about God when you’re sitting around as a family and when you’re riding around in the car. Talk about God when you’re putting the kids to bed and when you’re waking them up in the morning. Every chance we get, we are to teach our children to know and love God! But it isn’t just words that He is asking us to use. Please- don’t just say it and not live it.
Jewish tradition literally translates the “binding of the signs” as having straps wrapped around the hands and “front-lets” as having boxes containing parchment with verses on them attached to the forehead. As someone who is all about the heart, I am not into that kind of ritualistic observance, and I doubt you are either. This is an outside-in interpretation. Instead, we should have these truths at our core in order to live them out as we teach them to our children. In these verses when we are told that our hands should be bound to God’s word, the heart interpretation is that we are to put these truths into our actions. We should show how we love God with what we do with our hands. When I hear that, I think of living generously before my children. I think of working hard and doing acts of kindness before my children. We are to live our lives tied to (bound to) doing this great commandment in front of our children, in integrity as it flows out of our hearts through our hands.
The last part speaks of having front-lets before our eyes. I render that to my view of things. God is saying that we should seek to see everything through the perspective of His heart and mind, and then convey that higher mindset to our children. In a real way, every instance in our lives is an opportunity to point our children to God- His goodness, His truth, His forgiveness, His heart. As we head out the door, it should be our focus on what we will do that day. How can we love? How can we serve? What can we joyfully anticipate for our day today? And when we return home, it should be our reflection on whatever has happened. We can be thankful for the blessings of the day. We can look for the miraculous in the ordinary. We can spin what seems like a bad day into the truth that God can work it out for our good. There isn’t anything that we cannot apply God’s word to, in a real way. With God’s perspective as our lens, we can mold our children into those who see God as good, see people as valuable, and care about what God cares about- if we follow this verse from the heart.
Deuteronomy 6 can be condensed down to just a few words about parenting. Get God’s word and ways down in your heart and then: love it and live it in front of your children.
