“Listen, All Parents! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7; 11:18a-19). It is named “The Shema” in the Old Testament, but the same command is reflected in the New Testament in Ephesians 6:4.
These verses provide a central theme of Deuteronomy. It sets a pattern that helps us relate the Word of God to our daily lives. We are to love God, think constantly about His commandments, teach His commandments to our children, and live each day by the guidelines in His Word. God emphasized the importance of parents teaching the Bible to their children. The church and Christian schools cannot be used by parents to escape from this responsibility. Children’s Bible Lessons at church can be used to bolster what they are learning first from their parents at home; the home must provide the foundation. And because the church is to teach and equip its members to do the work of the church, each church must equip and mentor its parent members in how to lead and teach their children. The Bible provides so many opportunities for object lessons and practical teaching that it is not enough to study it only one day a week. Eternal truths are most effectively learned in the loving environment of a God-fearing home. Then when the grown children leave home, they have a permanent tie of responsibility to their parents which they rarely will have with their church.
And what are these “commands” that God through Moses is giving us, even today? They’re found in Deuteronomy 5:7-21 and Exodus 20:3-17. They’re the Ten Commandments.
- You must have no other god but Me.
- You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind, or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children, the entire family is affected – even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject Me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love Me and obey my commands.
- You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse His name.
- Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord our God. On that day no one in your household may do any work…..
- Honor your father and mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Then you will live a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
- You must not murder.
- You must not commit adultery.
- You must not steal.
- You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.
- You must not covet your neighbor’s wife. You must not covet your neighbor’s house or land, … or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.
This issue is one of the two most critically important responsibilities of parents. What’s that second critical issue? Mothers are to manage their home to insure the first requirement is done thoroughly until their children are adults and leave home. *
Together, these two issues, done correctly according to God’s will in scripture, can virtually assure any nation or people group that their children will grow up to be God-fearing, strong, mature, responsible adults. And those are precisely the adults who can build and maintain a strong, God-following nation. Anything else will eventually fail and lead a people into evil behaviors and failure. Just like we’re seeing today (2021) in America…
* Scripture strongly indicates that mothers are the managers of and co-teachers in their home (Dt 21:18; Pr 6:20, 29:15; SS 3:4, 8:2; Gn 24:28; Ru 1:8), so the obvious conclusion is that mothers’ are at home to run the household, as God intends.
