July 7 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

¹Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:
²That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
³Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
⁴Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
⁵And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
⁶And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
⁷And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
⁸And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
⁹And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Devotional

This is perhaps the most appropriate passage in Scripture for study concerning the godly home. It covers two main thoughts. First, the parent himself needs to be completely devoted to God. Second, the parent needs to provide a totally Christian environment for his children. These are the twin goals toward which we need to be striving in the Lord.

Within the parent there is to be a harmony of doctrine and life, with no contradiction, no hypocrisy. God's statutes are to be known and believed and they are to be kept. God, the one true God, is to be worshipped, loved and obeyed.

Then, what we know we are to impart to our children. Those truths which God has revealed are to be shared with our children. Share is a weak word here. We are to indoctrinate our children! We are to do it diligently. Not only are we to teach them, which suggests a more formal presentation, but we are to talk freely with them about God our Father morning, noon and night. Every moment our conversation must acknowledge God, as we take a walk, sit at the table, whatever we do.

It must be evident to the neighbors that we know God. The Jews literally placed a copy of the law on their wrists and on their forehead and at the posts of the door. Some orthodox Jews still retain this custom. But we may be sure that God, who knows the heart, is concerned here to emphasize His desire that His law is to be so much a part of us that we are never without a consciousness of it, and that its principles are reflected in all our actions for the world to see.

The more it becomes evident that the god of the secular world is Man, the more Christian parents should be questioning whether the secular school meets the requirement laid out here for parents to provide a totally Christian environment. What a challenge is Deuteronomy 6 to us as we examine both our own commitment and the environment we are providing for our children!