The Parenting Series | 3 Keys To Being A Present Parent
Saturday, August 25th 2018
It is impossible to influence someone you're not connected with!
It is impossible to influence someone you’re not connected with!
Deuteronomy 6:1-3 NIV
These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NIV
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.
1. Consistency
Biggest enemy…satisfaction
2. Intentionality
Biggest enemy…distraction
3. Tenacity
Biggest enemy…exhaustion
I love that when God gives a command like this, he always takes time to detail the benefits:
- Your children and grandchildren will follow God
- You and they will enjoy long/fulfilled lives
- You will experience success
- You will experience increased joy and fulfillment
The word HEAR in Deuteronomy 6:4 goes beyond a simple auditory function, it means to listen attentively and obediently. As James says we are not to just be hearers of the word, but doers. Moses was calling them and us to live like we actually believe that there is only one GOD! The second command he gives is the love GOD with all of our being!
You cannot give what you do not have. What happens at home is more influential and important than what happens at church! In a year we get 40-50 hours of influence, at home you have the potential of over 3,000 hours of influence.
Impress them when you walk, when you sit, when you lie dow. What gets scheduled gets done…the tyranny of the urgent will always eat your lunch! “Start with the end in mind” – Stephen Covey