Help Your Children Remember

Deuteronomy 6:8&9 “And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

(I once again need to apologize for a lapse here, but my husband was on spring break and we took a few days away to be together and to see our family that lives in the Dayton area. We had a great time, but it is always good to get home.)

Last time I posted, it was concerning the mandates in the verses in Deuteronomy that precede these two verses. Now, I am not qualified to exposit about these passages, but I am just trying to share some of the principles concerning child-rearing that I have gleaned from this passage over the years of my experience in raising three children.

I see in these verses the command to the Israelites to post something in three different places. In order to accomplish that task, it is necessary to know what it is they were to post! If you look back to verse 6 of this chapter, you will see that it is “these words” which we talked about in the last entry. And if you look ahead one more verse, you will see that they have to do with our love for the Lord. So it is that they were told to bind these words for a sign on their hands, put them between their eyes and write them on the posts of their house and gates. That command was specific to those people, but I think that the principle applies to us today!

I don’t think that we need to figure out how to place anything between our eyes or on our hands, but I do think that we can place appropriate things around our homes that will remind our children and others that this is a place where God is remembered and honored. If you look around your home, will your children be reminded to “Love the Lord their God” or will they be encouraged to love the world and its system? Do they see reminders of God and His plan and expectations for them, or do they see all the “stuff” that reminds them of the saying, “He who dies with the most toys wins”?

What then are some ways of displaying a God-loving and God-honoring attitude in your home? Is there a place in your home where your family meets daily for the purpose of family devotions and prayer? I am wondering if there is a Bible or a devotional book on your breakfast table that reminds your children that this is where God’s Word is read each morning before your family leaves the house for the day in order to give everyone encouragement as they head out to face the things that come along as we face the world each and every morning. Is there a Bible story book that reminds them that this is how we end each day before we all head off to bed after a busy day? Are there books on your bookshelf that encourage your family to study the deeper truths of God’s Word? Is there good music available for your family from good Christian children’s music to quiet devotional music for the family? These are just some of the ways of “posting these words” on the door posts of your home. We will all have different ways of accomplishing this mandate, but the important thing is that you DO IT! Start small, but start with a plan. Decide today that you will do one thing to make your home a place where God is remembered and honored. Pick one of these ideas or think of one of your own, but get started today! If you think, “Sometime I will have to do that” it won’t happen! And remember, your children are growing every day and they will some day leave home and then it will be too late! You only get one chance to raise your children. You can’t get to the end and decide, “I guess I blew it that time! Let’s try this again!” So get started on some of these things and let’s raise children that remember and have as their goal to “Love the Lord ‘their’ God with all ‘their’ heart, and with all ‘their’ soul and with all ‘their’ might!”