4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 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.-  Deuteronomy 6:4 – 9 

Together – walking and talking the Gospel. The commandments God gave to his people are our expression in appreciation for who he is and for what he has done. These commandments when taken together give a clear picture of what a person loving God looks like in response to his love for us. As children of the new covenant in Jesus’ blood they become an expression of our response to the Gospel – of Jesus dying for us and God the father adopting us into his family.  

The picture from these verses is one of parents telling and showing their children who God is and building reminders of him in everyday journeying through life and around the home. Because of our adoption into God’s family we have a new family – the church – which sits beside our biological families however they may be comprised. 

Parenting can be hard, especially single-parent parenting. It’s good to know that your church family is there to help with this heavy responsibility of training children in God’s ways and teaching them of his character and the claims he has on their lives. Maybe you are struggling with the responsibility of teaching your children God’s ways. My prayer for you is that the body of Christ might understand its role in teaching others and that a willingness to do that might grow into timely action. 

Tim Hewlett – Creek Road Campus