The seemingly endless march was over. The Israelites had finally returned to the edge of the Promised Land.
Forty years of wilderness wandering—divine punishment for their previous faithlessness—was behind them. An entire generation had died in the desert as a result of their rebellion toward God. Now, the Israelites were poised to enter the land of Canaan and receive all the blessings that God had promised Abraham centuries earlier.
But before they did, Moses, Israel’s aging leader, warned them against repeating their past failings and encouraged them to truly seek the Lord. He recounted Israel’s checkered history after the exodus and commanded them to forsake idols, follow the law that God gave at Mount Sinai and live faithfully to the Lord. In the great “Shema” passage of Deuteronomy 6:4-5, he proclaimed, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
Then Moses’ message took an interesting twist. He said, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, 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” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).
It was history’s first faith-based parenting seminar!
Today, more than 3,000 years later, God desires the same thing for all Christian families. Each day is filled with spiritual training opportunities. God wants parents to immerse their children in his life-giving Word and provide godly instruction to them. The Christian home should be a fertile soil bed where gospel seeds are constantly sown, watered and nurtured on a daily basis.
Hundreds of years after Moses’ great discourse, Asaph, the psalmist, echoed the words of Deuteronomy in one of my favorite verses, Psalm 78:4: “We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.”
This is my ministry mantra. As a children’s minister and author, my heart’s desire is to provide biblically based, gospel-centered resources to parents to help them fulfill their God-given commission—telling the coming generation “the glorious deeds of the Lord.” That’s why I wrote the Heroes of the Bible Devotional and The One Year Sports Devotions For Kids, and it’s why I’m particularly excited about my next book, One Year Devotions With Jesus, which will be released by Tyndale House Publishers in October.
Yes, God has certainly done “glorious deeds”—namely, offering salvation to humanity through the redemptive death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. What a privilege it is to play a small part in sharing this life-changing gospel message with others. I would love to be part of your family’s journey to know and love the Savior more!