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
Yesterday, we talked about the first way we can teach the truth of God’s Word to the next generation. That is a responsibility that we cannot take lightly and one that we should be diligent in working out for the rest of our lives. If you missed yesterday’s devotion, I urge you to go back and read it. But for today, we’re going to discuss three more ways we can pour into the next generation regarding the truth of the Word of God.
The second way we can teach the Word of God to the next generation is to teach God’s truth vigilantly. Deuteronomy 6:7 says to “impress” the truth on your children. The word “impress” is from the root Hebrew word “shaman” which means, “to sharpen” or “to engrave.” It was used by an engraver of a monument who would take a hammer and a chisel and etch a text into the face of a solid slab of granite work. Once he was finished, that message was there to stay.
So when Scripture says to impress the truth on your children, one way to paraphrase that verse would be, “Drill God's Word into the hearts of your children.” Literally engrave the truth of God's Word onto their hearts. The Hebrew word for “impress” also means, “to repeat.” That is, you do it over, and over, and over, and over. It is not something you do every once in a while. So every day, this generation is to be pointing the next generation to God.
The third way to teach God’s Word to the next generation is to teach God’s truth verbally. We carry on conversations with people every day of our lives. We can have spiritual conversations just as easily as we can have casual conversations or financial conversations. One of the biggest problems we're facing in the church today is just nobody's talking about God. This reality has to change if we’re going to impact the next generation for Christ.
Finally, the fourth way to teach the Word of God to the next generation is to teach God’s truth visually. It’s so important that we use visuals to teach and remind the next generation of God’s truth and God’s Word. I believe that every Christian home should have framed Christian Scriptures throughout the house. This is a great way not only to keep Scripture in front of our family but also to show those who come into our homes what we believe to be true. We also have at our disposal iPads and cellphones where we can visually show Bible stories to our kids. There are a number of ways that we can visually display and demonstrate God's truth and God's principles for living. We just need to be diligent in doing so.
I pray that moving forward, you will begin to implement these four methods of teaching as you pour into the next generation and teach them the truth of God’s Word.
Dear Jesus, thank you for your Word and for what a gift it is to us. I pray that as I pour into the next generation, I would teach them your truth virtuously, vigilantly, verbally, and visually so that they might come to know you better. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Topics: Truth
