Why is it true of human nature that we put off things we dread, choosing every possible option to busy ourselves until the dreaded thing is upon us? Taxes. Essays. Doctors. Mopping. What is true of trivialities is also true of essentials. We take stock at the start of a new year and resolve to do better. Still so many temporal things take precedence over the one most important thing.
“And then Jesus told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.”
Mark 16:15 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mrk.16.15.NLT
“I tell you the truth, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, the Son of Man will also acknowledge in the presence of God’s angels.
And when you are brought to trial in the synagogues and before rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said.”
Luke 12:8, 11-12 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.12.8-12.NLT
Abraham, Isaac, and Israel were the patriarchs of God’s chosen nation but Moses fathered them in the same way that an adoptive parent would an orphaned child. The Israelites had lived as slaves in a pagan nation longer than anyone living could remember and they had to be taught to live in their newfound freedom and favor. Moses was charged with being the voice of God to God’s chosen people. They would exist under Moses’s authority until they had learned to live under God’s.
““Look, I now teach you these decrees and regulations just as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy.
Obey them completely, and you will display your wisdom and intelligence among the surrounding nations.
When they hear all these decrees, they will exclaim, ‘How wise and prudent are the people of this great nation!’
For what great nation has a god as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us whenever we call on him?
And what great nation has decrees and regulations as righteous and fair as this body of instructions that I am giving you today?
“But watch out!
Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen.
Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live!
And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren.”
Deuteronomy 4:5-9 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/deu.4.5-9.NLT
We should not expect our children to know right from wrong intrinsically. We would not dream of disciplining a child for an innocent mistake, though it may become a teachable moment. Discipline is reserved for deliberate disobedience. First, we must instruct our children in the way of the Lord.
“So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Teach them 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 11:18-19 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/deu.11.18-19.NLT
Not many of us respond well to lists of do and don’t. We learn from example and by experience. How many times have you seen a young one approaching a dangerous situation and reached out instinctively, wishing to spare them pain? Littlest ones may pull away, running on toward danger. They require scooping up out of harms way, redirecting in spite of their protests.
As children grow, they resist in different ways. Still we want to spare them so we try reasoning with them, sharing from our own past mistakes and lessons learned. They may resent our advice but they cannot argue with our God stories. How God protected me when I could not see the danger I was placing myself in, or how God forgave me but I still endured consequences of my waywardness. Sharing a testimony is not merely telling someone about the place and time God saved me and I became His child. That is part of my God story, but as I walk with Jesus day by day, how He guides me, corrects me, provides for me, teaches me- all this and more must be made known to the next generation.
“Always review and remember what God has done. God does not owe you this amazing salvation. Far from it:
“Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength” (Deut. 4:37).
But there are entailments (necessary or inevitable consequences.)
“You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other” (Deut. 4:35).
“Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other” (Deut. 4:39).
“Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden. For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deut. 4:23-24).
In other words, they (Israel) are to serve God; but he alone is God.
Every generation of believers must reckon with this truth, or face God’s wrath.
For The Love Of God: Day 151 • Devotional
https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/786/day/151?segment=0
“For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him?
And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him?
And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?”
Romans 10:13-14 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.10.14.NLT
What have you witnessed God do in your lifetime? What truth have you learned of God? How did He exact your salvation? Don’t hold your faith stories so close to your chest that you end up taking them to your grave. Your testimonies are not only powerful; they are crucial. Someone in your family needs to know of God’s faithfulness to you so that their faith can grow. I guarantee yours will grow exponentially in the telling.
“Only the living can praise you as I do today.
Each generation tells of your faithfulness to the next.”
Isaiah 38:19 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.38.19.NLT
“Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth, and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it.”
Isaiah 32:3 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.32.3.NLT
“Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
all I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”
-Thomas O. Chisholm, 1923
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