March 26- Teach Your Children Well

March 26, 2011

Scripture Readings:
Deuteronomy 5:1-6:25; Luke 7:11-35;
Psalm 68:19-35; Proverbs 11:29-31

Don't worry that children never listen to you, worry that they are always watching you.

~Robert Fulghum

Deuteronomy 5:1-6:25

A recent phenomenon in child rearing is the emergence of baby sign language.  This is a movement that encourages teaching young babies who have pre-verbal language skills a series of hand signs to communicate needs like milk, hot, mommy, daddy, more, diaper, and happy.  I would have loved to have been able to find out what my child wanted in a manner that did not include crying at varying pitches and volumes! Do you find it amazing that children younger than one year old can watch a person and imitate their gestures in order to communicate a thought or feeling? One grandmother friend of mine whose grandchild had learned these signs lamented that her grandchild signed the word "mommy" the whole time she babysat!  Well, come to think of it, maybe it was good that I never taught my children to sign. Anyway, today Moses establishes a very important parenting principle for any person who believes in God and wants to pass on a love for Him to their children.

As our reading begins, Moses restates the Ten Commandments for this new generation.  As the personal intermediary between God and Israel, Moses understood the awesome event that the giving of this Law represented.  The Law represents God's holiness and justice.  The fact that God spoke from the heart of the fire to speak  the Law represents the cleansing, purifying nature of God's holiness.  The theme of the book of Deuteronomy is love and obedience. The biblical theme that our love and thankfulness to God for what He has done for us should inspire our obedience to His Word is as ancient as the writings of the Old Testament.  What parent does not desire for their child to love and obey them?  God, our Father, feels the same way towards us.

Moses gives Jewish parents an important tip on how to inspire the love of God in their children.  Here is a direct quote from Deuteronomy 6:4-9,

 "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."

What is Moses suggesting here?  I believe he is confirming that children will absorb what they are taught and will imitate what they see.  Therefore, it is important to take every moment as a teaching opportunity to point children to God.  They can be made aware of His existence as you walk along a sidewalk, play at the playground, or cook in the kitchen.  There should be verbal reminders as well as tactile and symbolic reminders of God's truth in our lives. The Israelites were encouraged to make their faith a living breathing reality.  Do you influence the children in your life to love God?

Luke 7:11-35

We've been talking about children and their parents today.  How convenient that Jesus reconciles a boy who died with his grieving family in our reading by means of resurrection from the dead.  This story gives us great insight into Jesus' caring and compassionate heart.  Death is an enemy that separates us from our loved ones.  Jesus came to defeat death.  His resurrection makes death for believers a temporary separation for all who love God.  Jesus shows in this story that he understands our grief and pain in dealing with the death of a loved one.  Jesus came to experience our brokeness. Thank God this story shows that Jesus is the master over death. The brokeness of our world is what he came to repair.

John the Baptist questions whether or not Jesus is the Messiah.  We learn from Matthew's account that this happens while he is imprisoned by Herod.  Jesus reassures John by quoting the Scriptures that are being fulfilling on earth through Jesus. Jesus can reference Scripture because John's parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, followed the advice of Moses in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy.  Their boy knew his Bible.  John knew the Law and the Prophets.  He was able to die knowing the truth about Christ.

Do  you know the Bible well enough to know the truth from a lie?

Psalm 68:19-35

This psalm pictures a powerful God who crushes His enemies and rules the nations.  His strength is evident to all. Jesus crushed death today and then forever on the cross. One day he will crush evil completely.

Proverbs 11:29-31

This is classic.  "Those who bring trouble upon their families, inherit the wind."  How poetic and true. We can see that Jesus knew his Bible.  He and John the Baptist both used the following illustration from this Proverb, " The godly are like trees that bear life-giving fruit, and those who save lives are wise."

What did you see today?

Blessings,

Jubilee Gal
Kathy Fullerton
© 2011