Make An Impression, Deuteronomy 6...
Deuteronomy 6:5-7
5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children...
Verse 7 is so powerful for those of us with children. It places the weight of responsibility on us as parents to teach our children to "love the Lord" (v 5). The responsibility is ours alone.
The NIV translates verse 7 as "Impress them on your children", which seems like a powerful rendering of this verse. The word "impress" has had me contemplating its use. If I as a father, and we as a culture, are trying so hard to make sure our kids "impress" others by their good performance, do we forget that our first role as parents is to "impress" the love of God on them?
We all want our kids to do well, to play well in sports, to make good grades, to make lots of friends, to be successful, to be...impressive. None of those things in and of themselves are bad. But according to the Bible, our first responsibility as parents is to teach diligently the love of God to our children and impress this upon them every opportunity we have (Deut 6:7-9).
So I have had to check myself, and will continue to, by asking the question:
Which do I desire more - that my kids impress the world around them, or that I impress the love of God on them? Would I rather them be loved by the world or have a growing love for God? What do I applaud most in my children - worldly "wins", accomplishments, and accolades, or their genuine relationship with God marked by a Christ-like attitude of servant-hearted selflessness (Phil 2) and the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5)?
Away from me, how would my kids complete this sentence?
"More than anything else in the world, my mom and dad teach me to _____________________________."
What would they say? What would your kids say?
As parents, do we desire to love God with all of our heart, soul, and might? These things need to be on our "heart" (v 6). We can't impress on our children what we don't possess ourselves. If the love of God is not on our heart, what is?
Do we desire that our kids love God with all their heart, soul, and might? We have to make this decision before we can make it a priority.
Do our kids know, by our actions, values, and teaching, that loving God with all their might is the most important thing?
Does something need to change?
Are we willing to, by God’s grace, make the necessary changes?
