Diligence

In my quiet time this morning I was reminded of the importance, actually the absolute necessity, of being diligent in passing on the ways of the Lord to our children and the generations that follow after us.  

Moses communicated God's message to His people in the book of Deuteronomy.  

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up."  ~ Deut. 6: 5-7

Most of us are familiar with this passage in Deuteronomy but the thing that really spoke to me this morning came from a couple of follow on passages.

"Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the LORD which He had done for Israel."  ~ Joshua 24:31

Obviously the people were following God's command up to this point.  However, by the time Joshua died, someone--many actually--had dropped the ball.

"Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of one hundred and ten...All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel."  ~ Judges 2:8 & 10

I would contend that they didn't know the LORD or what He had done because no one told them.  The really disturbing part is what immediately follows those verses in Judges.

"Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals, and they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who where around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger."  ~ Judges 2:11-12

In one generation, the elders had failed to pass on their knowledge of God and the consequences were devastating.  The people did evil in God's sight, served the Baals, forsook the LORD, followed other gods, bowed down to them, ultimately provoking the LORD to anger.  We see this playing out all around us, and I have to wonder at what point God will say "enough".

Although our culture looks like the people of Israel who did not know the LORD, I don't want that to be said of my family.  My prayer this morning is that I will be diligent about sharing with them all that God has written on my heart and done in my life and that has to start with me knowing those things myself.

"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil."  ~ Ephesians 5: 15-16

Encouragement

I saw this on our local home school loop this morning and was encouraged to remember why I do what I do and exactly what my goal should be in home schooling my kids. Sometimes I lose sight of the important things in the pursuit of the academic goal. I'm sharing it in hopes that it will be a gentle reminder to others as well.

1 Corinthians 13 for Home Schoolers

Though I teach my children how to multiply,
divide, and diagram a sentence,
but fail to show them love,
I have taught them nothing.

And though I take them on numerous field trips,
to swim practice and...flute lessons;
and though I involve them in every church activity,
but fail to give them love,
I profit nothing.

And though I scrub my house relentlessly,
run countless errands,
and serve three nutritious meals every day,
but fail to be an example of love,
I have done nothing.

Love is patient with misspelled words
and is kind to young interrupters.
Love does not envy high SAT scores
of other home school families.
Love does not claim to have
better teaching methods than anyone else,
It is not rude to the fourth telephone caller
during a science lesson,
does not seek perfectly behaved geniuses,
does not turn into a drill sergeant,
thinks no evil about friends' educational choices.

Love bears all my children's challenges,
believes all my children are God's precious gifts,
hopes all my children establish
permanent relationships with Christ,
and endures all things
to demonstrate God's love.
Love never fails.

Where there are college degrees, they will fail;
where there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
For we know in part and we teach in part.
But when the trials of life come to our children,
the history, math, and science will be done away
and faith, hope and love will remain;
but the greatest of these is love.

~Arthur Unknown