Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
We Believe in the Triune God
(Father’s Day)
“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”(V. 7).
In the
movie Courageous, the main character Adam Mitchell said, “I now believe
that God desires for every father to courageously step up and do whatever it
takes to be involved in the lives of his children. But more than just being
there providing for them, he is to walk with them through their young lives and
be a visual representation of the character of God, their father in heaven. A
father should love his children, and seek to win their hearts. He should
protect them, discipline them, and teach them about God.”
In
the Jewish faith, Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is known as the Shema or the
affirmation of faith. During their daily prayers, and in their Sabbath worship,
this is often recited. What we read in verses four and five is a command for
the people of Israel to know that God is one, and how much they are to love
Him. As Christian believers, God expects the same out of us: to know that He is
the One and only God, and how we are to love and worship Him. God has created
us to be creatures of worship, and He expects us to have Him as the central
focus of our lives. In verse five, it does not say, “Love God first in your heart,
first in your soul, and first in your strength,” but rather, to love Him with
our whole heart, soul, and strength. He should be the object of our full
affection. In doing so, we are capable to love our spouses, children, and those
around us.
Upon
acknowledging God as the sole focus of our lives, then there is an
uncompromising ordinance that Moses says to the people in verse seven, which
applies to us as well. He says, “Impress them on your children.” If we have
submitted our lives to Christ, then we would have an inherent desire for our
children to do the same as well. In our Baptism liturgy, the priest gives
an exhortation to the parents and godparent in which one part it says, “It is
your responsibility to train the child in such a way that he/she will make
his/her own declaration of faith in public, ‘I renounce Satan, and I believe in
Jesus Christ,’ as he/she reaches the age of understanding.” Children are in a
world where they are being bombarded with several voices that are telling them
lies and exposing them to lifestyles that forsake God. It is in such a world
that God has appointed parents to be the voice of truth to raise up the
children in such a way that they too will know Jesus Christ as their personal
Savior.
Prayer: Father, we praise You that You are
the best Father for us to imitate on raising our children. Empower us to know
You as God and Father of our lives, so we may be the visual representation of
God to our children. Amen.
Thought for the Day: Knowing God is like putting on
the oxygen mask on an airplane. First, you must put it on yourself before you
can help those around you.
Mat
Stan Samuel , St.Paul's MTC, Dallas.