Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Nazarene Publishing House (The Foundry Publishing House) in Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Monday, 28 August 2017 - "Making a Point" by Duane Brush - Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Nazarene Publishing House (The Foundry Publishing House) in Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Monday, 28 August 2017 - "Making a Point" by Duane Brush - Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Deuteronomy 6:1 “Now this is the mitzvah, the laws and rulings which Adonai your God ordered me to teach you for you to obey in the land you are crossing over to possess, 2 so that you will fear Adonai your God and observe all his regulations and mitzvot that I am giving you — you, your child and your grandchild — as long as you live, and so that you will have long life. 3 Therefore listen, Isra’el, and take care to obey, so that things will go well with you, and so that you will increase greatly, as Adonai, the God of your ancestors, promised you by giving you a land flowing with milk and honey.

(A:vi, S: v) 4 “Sh’ma, Yisra’el! Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad [Hear, Isra’el! Adonai our God, Adonai is one]; 5 and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources. 6 These words, which I am ordering you today, are to be on your heart; 7 and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them on your hand as a sign, put them at the front of a headband around your forehead, 9 and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates.

-------I have heard it said, and you may have too, “I don’t believe in pushing religion on children. When they get old enough they can decide for themselves.” Such thinking ignores the fact that we teach children as much, perhaps even more, by the things we don’t make a priority as by those we do. The “commands, decrees and laws” mentioned in Deuteronomy 6:1 were not simply helpful guides to holy living–which they were. In observing them, the Israelites embodied their call to be the people of God.
The core of Israelite belief was faith in “the LORD (Yahweh) our God” and in God alone. It was their duty to “impress” this truth on their children. The word translated “impress” or “teach diligently” is a metaphor drawn from sharpening a point, such as on a sword or some other weapon or tool. To maintain a sharpened edge requires skill and deliberate care. To ignore suce work means the edge will grow blunt, inefficient, and ultimately useless. Literally, when it came to passing their faith on to their children, the Israelites were to “make a point of it.”

Should we do any less?
Hymn for Today:

"Jesus Loves Even Me" by Philip P. Bliss

1. 

I am so glad that our Father in heav’n

Tells of His love in the Book He has giv’n;

Wonderful things in the Bible I see:

This is the dearest, that Jesus loves me.

Refrain: I am so glad that Jesus loves me,

  Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me;

I am so glad that Jesus loves me,

    Jesus loves even me.

2. Though I forget Him and wander away,

Still He doth love me whenever I stray;

Back to His dear loving arms would I flee,

When I remember that Jesus loves me.

Refrain: I am so glad that Jesus loves me,

  Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me;

I am so glad that Jesus loves me,

    Jesus loves even me.

3. Oh, if there’s only one song I can sing,

When in His beauty I see the great King,

This shall my song in eternity be:

“Oh, what a wonder that Jesus loves me.”

Refrain: I am so glad that Jesus loves me,

  Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me;

I am so glad that Jesus loves me,

    Jesus loves even me.

Thought for Today:

Young lions can be needy, they can go hungry,

but those who seek Adonai lack nothing good.

Come, children, listen to me;

I will teach you the fear of Adonai.(Psalm 34:11).
Please pray:

For the development of Christian leaders in the Bahamas.
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