Deuteronomy 6 THE KEY TO DAILY LIVING
Most of what our children will learn from us is taught in the routine events of daily living. What my attitude is like at the beginning of a day is one of the major impressions they will get as to how to approach each day. Some people will excuse bad behavior by saying, "I am not a morning person." We are what we choose to be and what we allow ourselves to be. To begin each day with a conversation with the Lord our God, enables us to face the unknown events before us with faith in Him and grace toward others. Our children and grandchildren will look on silently and hopefully will learn that it is possible for us to "bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," and if we do, we are off to a satisfactory start of a day. God's laws are given so we won't "crash and burn" because we are out-of-control people. The careful conduct of life under divine direction enables us to live long and well. The teaching process goes on constantly, and my love for the Lord and my response to His will is learned best by my example more than my words.
The promise of a fruitful land lay before the Israelites as they waited for the sign from God to enter. They were probably thinking about farms and homes that were waiting for them that could have been theirs forty years earlier. Moses taught them again how to avoid the same mistakes their fathers had made. He described the land to them and what was their responsibility to claim and maintain. God had promised them this land and they were to keep it in the way He intended. There are obligations and conditions we must meet in order to live our lives as God intends. We are not independent people without responsibilities towards God and other people.
Our appreciation and love for God should show when we live from day to day before our loved ones and our neighbors. The Word of God sets the pattern for daily living for God's people. There is a theme to life's story that works well and that is the kind of life God wants for us. We are to whole-heartedly, emotionally and intellectually love God with all our body, soul and spirit. When we love Him in this way, it gives the proper expression to our love for our families and those around us. If our faith in God is properly intact, that gives the insight for daily living as God intended. The lives of many people are so diverse and disconnected that they have a problem knowing what is really important. People can get almost as upset over losing a ballgame as they can over the loss of a human life. Some have given personhood to animals and plants to the extent they mourn over the death of things of creation more that over the need of the death of Christ as the Savior for their sins.
In family life it is up to parents to make their love for God evident to their children. Children need to be taught what God's commands are and why we follow the scriptures as our pattern for life. Bible teaching should not be left up to Sunday School teachers only. The guidelines taught in God's Word are there for parents to teach so the home environment will make them effective. Effective teaching will use object lessons from daily living. There will be situations that arise that will provide "teaching moments." There needs to be given opportunities for practical applications of the things that have been learned. Some things are taught in public meetings, but they are learned when people apply these things personally.
When there is genuine love for God, we will be able to see other people through God's eyes. The need of our children to know God, will affect our conversations. Opportunities come to make a spiritual point when we are consciously ready and wanting for God to use us. Opening up a conversation at a mealtime or on a walk is not too difficult if we are aware of the needs of those we are with. It is incumbent on us to take advantage of each opportunity to guide our children into the truth of God. Wherever we look and whatever we do, there are illustrations and examples of God's power and presence. Use those everyday experiences that we see and do, to teach spiritual things that are unseen. "The things that are seen are temporal (temporary), but the things that are not seen are eternal."
True religious education is an on-going process that can best be furthered by combining instruction and practical application. The children of Israel had evidence of God's presence in the cloud and fire all through the wilderness journey. Parents and children would go out six days a week into the pre-dawn darkness to gather manna for their daily provision. The tabernacle in the center of the camp, and the smoke of the continual offering rising into the air to God, could be seen by those who looked in that direction. We don't have those visible Jewish symbols, but we have the Bible containing the scriptures that we should read with our children. In our prayers to God we should name our children before Him so they know they are known to God and should conduct themselves with the assurance, "Thou God seest me." When we gather as an assembly to the Lord's Supper, the fellowship and all of the activities when we are together with other believers, can be "teaching moments" if they are explained. Let us make God and our faith in Him, real to our children in every possible way.
The Israelites were preparing to enter the land God had promised them, and the life they had known in Egypt and the wilderness for forty years was about to change completely. In a very brief time, they were going to have houses to live in and fields of their own to till. Instead of being a nation of slaves, they were about to become prosperous landowners. The tendency to settle down and forget that God brought them there, would be real and had to be warned against. The need for God to provide manna, water and all the things that preserved life would soon be gone, and they would think they no longer needed Him. In their thinking they would be able to do what was needed for living by themselves. Far too often people forget that "in Him we live and move and have our being." The ground under our feet is filled with the "fullness of God." The seeds we plant have their life source in God alone. There is never a moment of life, a bite of food, a breath we draw when we are out of God's domain. The gods of men of whatever kind they are, do not provide "life and breath and all things."
Every aspect of our life is intended by God to be good and right. His standards of righteousness and justice are given to us to follow, and when we fail, His plan of redemption and reconciliation is made plain to us. Our dependence on Christ as our Mediator is on-going and is taught when we pray and read the scriptures with our families. There will be times when our children will ask us why we do what we do, and we owe them a clear explanation. A child will learn from wise parents the value of daily tasks that we must be responsible for in order to live a normal life. The value and reason for work is taught by example in normal home life. The spiritual part of life is taught when we apply truths the Bible contains, and the practices of our church life, to our daily life and routine.
To review the past is a way to teach how to live in the present and prepare for the future. Each generation of family members has lived a very different kind of life. To tell our children and grandchildren the life story of a family is a good way to prepare them for adding their experiences to the mosaic of a family history. It is very important to teach them how a right relationship with God establishes the foundation of each generation and each person. Obeying God is what makes life to be what it should be. We may have difficulties of poverty, suffering and uncertainty, but in those times our relationship with God sustains us. We know the will of the Lord is being done. Perhaps there will be some benefit in the future we would miss if we didn't have those times.
Prosperity is not always measured by being "rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." True prosperity is not what we have but who we are. One saintly man said to another, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." The prosperity of the soul has to do with our contentment and enjoyment of life and God. It also includes our interaction with other people and the things that are important in the context of realistic living. When we love God and obey Him, there is a rest to our souls. "Godliness with contentment is great gain." "Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content." A right relationship with God enables us to live a contented life in spite of the circumstances in which we are found. Daily living a life of faith is the best part of our heritage that we can pass on to our children. A life of quiet contentment, and meaningful labor, linked with praise and worship of God, is an inheritance that has great value. Living daily in righteousness, dignity, respect, honor and integrity will please God, others and ourselves.