Community Baptist Church - South Bend IN

During our family devotions a several years ago we looked at Deuteronomy 6:6 and 7, "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children…" One thing we discussed was my desire for God and His Word to permeate our household as stated in the next portion of this scripture passage, "… and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." What a lofty goal and command that the Lord sets before us as parents. Unfortunately, many of our homes are far from being saturated with our Lord. We sit in our houses and watch television that is not edifying, we travel by the way and listen to worldly music and talk more about sports or the sales at the mall instead of the Lord, we lay down at night with our last thoughts being the contents of that last Facebook post we read, and we rise up in the morning and rush around the house with not a moment to quietly spend with the Lord.

We parents, the pilots of our homes, must make some decisions about our activities and schedules that reflect Deuteronomy 6:6-7. It will not automatically happen. Our children will not naturally fill their lives with Him. This responsibility is placed squarely on our shoulders. Here are some practical suggestions to help parents obey this important command.

1. Have family devotions each evening. Dad is the one to make this a priority.
2. Eat breakfast together. You might not eat a large breakfast, but, even if it is only some toast and juice, breakfast can be a time when you as a family ask the Lord's blessings on the day.
3. Have a "quiet hour" set aside in the morning to accommodate an uninterrupted time of personal devotions for each of your children. It is difficult for a child to listen to the Lord when his brother is yelling to his mom upstairs about where his gym shorts are, or when his sister is catching up on piano practice, or when a parent is questioning a low test score. You may want to direct your family to "be still" from 6:30 to 7:00 each morning. Your children would know that during that time they are not to be noisy or to be asking other family members questions.
4. Have good Christian music playing in your home often. It is a blessing to go to work in the morning with an uplifting, Christian song on your mind or to go to bed with a godly melody lingering. This is a great way to "renew the minds" of your children.
5. Limit greatly how much time your child spends in the electronic game world. Would you rather have your child dwelling on a good song or how to get to level 43 in Electro Fantasy World? Those games are addicting, and the more time they spend with that game, the more addicting it will become. I can recall one young man with whom I was counseling whose mind was constantly occupied with a certain game. How unwise was his parent who allowed him to spend too much time programming his mind with this electronic adventure.
6. Limit internet time. God put those children in your home so YOU can interact with them. How sad it is when your children spend two hours or more each evening interacting with friends on Facebook and spend tem minutes interacting with you – the one person who is to be the PRIMARY godly influence in their lives during this stage of their growth.
7. Make education decisions that follow Deuteronomy 6. As you parents think about school for your children next fall, let this passage guide your thinking.