Read Deuteronomy 6: 4-9:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
What a reminder and an encouragement. A conviction and a charge. I don’t know how this hits you or how you think about the Lord’s command in these verses, but I think it is good for us to pause and reflect on what this scripture is telling us. You see, Moses had just come down from the mountain, sharing the 10 commandments with the Israelites. Words to live by and hold close to heart. Commands to obey, to guide our actions, to hold us accountable to God and to others.
Here, Moses continues, summing them up in a big statement or command, then calling us to action, to obey “The Greatest Commandment.” “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” If I’m honest, I don’t think I understood the depth of this verse until I had kids. Before kids I thought I loved the Lord in this way. I would have given you a resounding, “YES!” if you asked me if this was true of me. But a couple of years ago, right after my second was born, I was convicted to really assess my deepest desire through our Deeper series.
I began to think about my deepest desire and what my habits and rhythms indicated about my desires. I began to reflect on my role as parent, and my love for my kids. Then I had a realization. For a few years I watched my kids with anticipation as they learned new things almost daily, I melted at the unconditional love my girls had for me, I realized the sad number of hours spent learning about their needs and developing specific routines to help them sleep well, eat well, and thrive in this world. I was the first to talk about what cute things they were doing, their likes and dislikes, and pour into any interest they had. I focused on trying to create discipleship moments for our family- clinging hard to the hope that my efforts would one day produce salvation in them, even though I knew salvation belongs to the Lord, and my feeble attempts were not what could one day save them. And then I had a punch in the gut feeling. I didn’t love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, and might. I loved my kids that way.
Now I still have a deep love for my girls. I still want to see them learn and to thrive, and I pray that they would one day choose to follow Jesus. These aren’t bad things. I hope you pray for your kids in this way too. But I had a shift in thinking about my role as believer. I realized that these things would come out of an overflow of clinging to this commandment. My only job is to love the Lord with all my heart, soul, and might.
The verses go on to tell us how. These words should be in our heart- we should think of them often. How often do you reflect on these words, this command? How often do you take a self-assessment of your love of the Lord?
We should teach this command diligently to our children. Not just at an organized, planned out family devotion, but all day. Did you see that in the passage? You should talk of loving God with your heart, soul, and might as you sit in your house, as you walk through the day, when you lie down, and when you rise. Many of us plan our entire day around these rhythms, do we talk about God and our love for Him in every part of our day? These words should metaphorically and physically be written in front of you- they should be in your heart, and visible in your household. Is there a Bible easily accessible to your kids? Do you have scripture etched on a notecard on the fridge or a chalkboard on the wall? Every part of our day should be an opportunity to demonstrate and talk about our love of God.
I am by no means a perfect parent; I don’t dare to even put myself in the great category, but I can say that when I allowed myself to reflect on this command, I saw change in myself, my relationship with my husband, and in our girls. I desired to know and love the Lord deeply…first. I desired to talk about Him in the “regular” parts of our day, not just in bedtime prayers. I found myself going to him in prayer first, and I attempted to teach my girls the same. I had a desire to exercise my might and try my hand at truly loving the Lord my God with ALL my heart, soul, and might.
I have seen a change in my kids too. My 2-year-old loves to pray (most days). She thanks God in her squeaky little voice for things she remembers from her day. And if she knows you’re not feeling well, you’ll be in her prayer for approximately 7 weeks, even once you’re in tip-top shape! My oldest is beginning to ask questions about God. Not necessarily when we are reading a Bible story or verse, or when we are saying prayers or listening to worship songs, her questions often come in the “other” moments of the day. As she wraps her mind around what it means that her dad and I love her, she is also beginning to see what it means that God loves her even more.
What does this have to do with back to school? Well, I’m glad you asked! Whether your kids are at home, in childcare, homeschooling or in a school building, participate in sports, or attend co-ops, we are entering the season of rhythms and routines. We will have moments sitting together around the table for meals, riding in a car to school and sitting in car lines, going to extracurriculars, taking family walks, after school routines, bedtime routines, and morning routines. Our school year comes with schedules and calendars, and lots of to-dos. And in all of this we have an important role. I pray you and I don’t miss what this passage charges us with. We must take advantage of ALL these moments to teach our children diligently the command of verse 5. We must first love the Lord our God with everything, talking about it openly so that our kids can begin to learn too. We must self-evaluate, what do my regular rhythms say about my deepest desire? We must think about our routines of discipleship as much as we think about our other routines throughout the day.
My prayer and my challenge for myself and you also: Let us keep this command in our hearts, let us teach it with diligence to our children, let us talk about it when we sit, when we walk, when we lie down, and when we rise. Let us make it clear within the walls of our home- let us love God with everything that we are, and then rejoice in the beauty of what unfolds when we rest in our love for Him.
-Jena Zaldivar, MH Kids Director
Watch the full sermon from Back-to-School Weekend here:
