The Spiritual and Familial Intertwined
I love genealogy. I love finding out the stories of people's lives - their family, where they lived, what they did for a living, the culture of the time and so on.
Well, John, the beloved disciple, has a story. He did not live in a vacuum. He was a man of his culture and time. As I did today's lesson of Beth Moore's study, "Beloved Disciple", I discovered that family life and spiritual life were intertwined. They were not separate activities.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 states: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." NIV
In our everyday family life we are to discuss who God is and how we are to be in relationship with Him. We are to teach our children the commandments of God no matter the activity at hand. We are to impress them on our children. The Hebrew word is shanan,which means to sharpen, teach (incisively) [www.blueletterbible.org]. We are to teach in order to penetrate the heart.
While we are not perfect, this should be our goal - to teach our children about God and His ways. Just as the Apostle John calls believers dear children and he instructs them about following God, we should do the same.
Well, John, the beloved disciple, has a story. He did not live in a vacuum. He was a man of his culture and time. As I did today's lesson of Beth Moore's study, "Beloved Disciple", I discovered that family life and spiritual life were intertwined. They were not separate activities.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 states: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." NIV
In our everyday family life we are to discuss who God is and how we are to be in relationship with Him. We are to teach our children the commandments of God no matter the activity at hand. We are to impress them on our children. The Hebrew word is shanan,which means to sharpen, teach (incisively) [www.blueletterbible.org]. We are to teach in order to penetrate the heart.
While we are not perfect, this should be our goal - to teach our children about God and His ways. Just as the Apostle John calls believers dear children and he instructs them about following God, we should do the same.
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