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 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. 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. – Deuteronomy 6:4-9
In today’s key passage, God tells Moses to do something very important. In a nutshell, He says, “Make sure that your children and your grandchildren love God with all their heart.”
The fact was that at that time in history, people didn’t associate love and God. All of their experiences with gods had been about making sacrifices and focusing on works. But the God of Israel changed all of that. And the truth is, seeing God as loving and also choosing to love God are truths we want each and every generation to embrace.
We need to teach the next generation to know the truth of God's Word so that they will know the God of that truth. So over the next two days, we’re going to look at the four ways we are to do just that in our homes. We’ll look at the first one today, and then we’ll discuss the other three tomorrow.
The first way we can teach the next generation to know the truth is to teach God’s truth virtuously. We are to be teaching the next generation that there's only one God. God demands above all else that we love Him supremely with all of our soul, heart, and strength. But then He goes on to say it's not enough that we just believe that truth in our head; we should take hold of that truth in our hearts.
There is a difference between a head knowledge of the commandments of God and a heart knowledge of the God of the commandments. If you don't hold God's Word in your heart, you'll never be able to teach those truthfully to the next generation. You've got to have a heart that is right with God, a heart that is filled with God, and a heart fully devoted to God.
I pray you’ll come back tomorrow as we continue this important discussion.
Dear Lord, thank you for the opportunities you give me to pour into the next generation. I pray you would help me to take advantage of these opportunities to teach the truth of your Word to those coming up behind me. And may we all treasure your Word in our hearts all the days of our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Topics: Truth
