The first commandment; to love God with all your heart and soul and mind is summed up in Deuteronomy, Chapter Six; and that was our subject for last week.
It all sounds simple enough; right?
The things that are incorporated with that subject though are numerous, and we would do well to discuss that chapter in more detail today.
One thing that really jumps out at me is the wording of verses 7-9 of Deuteronomy Chapter 6. Those verses say this:
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. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
What commandments have you impressed upon your children lately?
I have a theory that most of us have NOT done enough of this. Perhaps that is why our country is currently wreaking chaos and havoc. Our children do not know or understand God’s best ways to live – which is the following of the ten commandments.
I could be wrong.
So maybe you HAVE taught them.
Perhaps your children have even had to memorize the commandments.
That would be a great first step.
However; memorizing something and living something out are two different things.
Have we stopped on the first easy step?
When is the last time you have talked to your children about how important it is to show love, respect and honor to God; and/or love, respect and honor to our fellowman? That is what following the commandments ensures.
Look around you at all of the angry voices and violence. The reasons that all start out loving and kind have turned hateful and violent and uncivilized.
Do you think people are REALLY living out the commandments today? Taking a stand for what you believe is righteous and good; but if you don’t take that stand in a peaceful, loving, kind way; you defeat your purpose and you waste your time.
How many children today understand what a Sabbath is?
If they DO have the concept; how many children have experienced their own family honoring, respecting and loving God and their fellow men by keeping Sabbath?
It isn’t about walking into a certain building once a week. Pandemics don’t have much affect on true Sabbath keepers; they are still keeping Sabbath.
Let’s look a little further.
How many little white lies have your children heard from your lips today?
It is so much easier when raising children to gloss over the real truth, to paint the pretty picture that they expect and to not have to stop to explain how you really feel about certain aspects of life on planet earth.
I’ll give you an example of how that snuck up on me one day. I don’t believe in practicing yoga because of the spiritual aspects of the Hindu religion that seep into the poses and the whole yoga experiences. It all seems innocent enough at first; but yoga has pagan roots. I think that first commandment that clearly states “have no other gods before me” eliminates the practice of yoga from my days. It is a pagan practice that I do not think God would approve of. Not many people agree with me.
My daughters do not feel the same way that I do (perhaps our current culture has seeped in on them too); and that is their own choice. I do respect their right to choose. They are adults and it is no longer my decision to make for them. Each person must make their own choices. I have explained my feelings to them and we have agreed to disagree.
However; when it was time for my granddaughter to go to American Girl Camp (a gift from me for her birthday) she chose a doll with the theme of yoga from all the “My Generation” dolls on the shelves. (They were allowed to bring My Generation Dolls too.) There were about 50 doll personalities and she chose the yoga instructor doll.
She told me her choice and I bought the doll for her; deciding not to make a big deal of the Yoga issue; but to just emphasize that the doll liked to exercise and stay physically fit. I had told her she could chose the doll, and that it needed to be her choice. There were no yoga instructions involved with playing with the doll, just an exercise mat and gym clothes; and a six year old girl never really noticed the difference.
Until later; when her Mom expressed surprise at me buying her the Yoga Doll because I had taken such a strong stance against yoga in the past. I still held to those beliefs; but had hoped to gloss over the whole subject and call it “exercise,” when it came down to playing with this doll.
As six year olds tend to do; she bluntly asked me the question at the next family gathering. The whole room stopped and listened for my answer. You could have heard a pin drop. Her question actually caught me off guard and I stumbled through my answer; knowing that she would not understand my reasons until she was older.
Later that day I readdressed the question; again in front of the whole family with her listening.
“You asked me why I did not approve of yoga earlier.”
She nodded and listened for me to say more.
“It is because I’m a Christian. Christians worship only One True God. Yoga comes from the Hindu religious practices where they worship MANY gods; false gods. There is only One True God and I do not do yoga in order to honor Him. He does not want us worshipping or hanging out with other gods; because they are false and not good for us.”
I looked at her and asked if she could understand that. “Not really;” she said.
“Well for now all you have to know is I don’t think the type of exercises your doll would do are bad. I know your Mama is a Christian too; and I don’t think she would do anything that she thought would dishonor God. I’m sure her exercises are different from the ones that most people do when they do yoga.”
I looked across the room at my daughter smiling at me; knowing like I did that my granddaughter would remember this later and consider anything she did as exercise carefully. We left her decisions between her and God. Still; God gave me the opportunity to explain how I felt to her; and she had listened. Perhaps understanding would come many years down the road. I trust that God is always looking after her. I can see it in her questions and responses to all of our answers.
It is a blessing to be in a family that is willing to allow family discussions on such things. Also; it is a blessing to know that God’s timing is always right on time.
It wasn’t long before my granddaughter had a dance recital. Of course the doll had to come join in with all the fun! She loves that doll. No one said a word to me about it; but I saw that the “yoga” doll had become a ballerina now. Her yoga clothes were gone and she had a new ballerina costume that my granddaughter loved for her to wear.
Like I said before; God’s timing is always perfect. I said a silent prayer of thanks as I saw her Papa holding her doll and her roses that night. Talk to your children about God’s commandments. They DO understand and they will want to show Him their love and respect the same as you.
This is just one small, every-day sample of how our children learn the commandments directly from us.
They learn to respect God and others from us.
They learn the best ways to live from us.
We – the caring, responsible adults of their world; must always be ready to give an answer based on the teachings of God’s commandments.
One way that many Jewish families express the importance of this to their children is to write them on the door-frames of their houses. They write out the commandments on paper and roll it up inside a specially designed and decorative door holder, which they bless and place on the doorpost of their house.
That way no one in the family can enter or leave without glancing at it and remembering the commandments of God. They know God’s best ways to live; in their going out and in their coming in.
What a great idea. The scripture actually reads; “Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” This is why so many gates also have such a reminder.
America; we MUST train our children in the right paths.
The future of our country depends on it!