Our Top Two Parenting Priorities According To Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Biblical Parenting Priorities
The best place to start to zero in on God’s parenting priorities for us is Deuteronomy 6:4-9. This passage is known as the Shema. From the Old Testament point of view, every Hebrew knew the Shema. It was the bedrock of their faith and direction in living and loving God. The Shema reminds us of 2 major parenting priorities.
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,
when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Parenting Priority #1 – Love God Yourself.
Loving God is first and foremost for us as Christian moms, and loving God should flow into every element of our lives. This brings me to the place of recognizing my own life growing up and how I was parented.
My Parents Laid A Love God Foundation For Me
I was born to Christian parents who loved me and taught me about Jesus. They took me to church every Sunday morning and evening, Wednesday evening, and if there were any other events outside of those two days, we were there. My parents did their best to instill their Christian faith in me. As Christian parents, that is what we all want to do, because at some point that foundation means everything to our children.
I understand this so well because by the time I was 15 years old, I walked away from Jesus and did not return to him until I was 30 years old. Even though I left the Christian faith my parents worked so hard to instill in me, that foundation never left me. When God started drawing me back to Him, I had a foundation to come back to.
Let me encourage you that laying a foundation of loving God will not fail you.
A Foundation Of Loving God
If you are young in your parenting, know that laying a foundation of loving God with your entire heart, soul, and strength is the most important aspect of your parenting. And If you are the parent of adult children, know that foundation that you laid for your children will never leave them, even if they leave God for a season. And if you never laid that foundation, no worries. You can start loving God now and show them from this point forward what a foundation of Jesus looks like.
According to Deuteronomy 6:4-9, the most important thing we can do for our children is love Jesus, strive for spiritual growth, and nurture our own relationship with Jesus. Because the more we grow in our relationship with Jesus, the more spiritually healthy we become, and the better parents we become.
I submit to you that laying a foundation of loving God cannot happen apart from us as moms having a true, thriving relationship with Jesus. Please don’t super-impose “perfect” in there anywhere. A true, thriving relationship with Jesus isn’t about living perfectly. Instead, it is about real spiritual growth and transformation which is completely visible to our children, no matter what their age. God changing us from the inside out, is undeniable to those closest to us, who see us in all our strengths and our weaknesses.
Our kids see our brokenness whether we want them to or not or whether we realize our brokenness or not. We parent from where we are, giving what we have to give, while hoping for better and more for our children. The transformation Jesus brings into our lives sets our children up to experience that better and more that we so hope happens in them.
Parenting Priority #2 – Teach Your Children To Love God.
Allow me to reiterate the point, that we can’t teach our children to love God until we love Him ourselves. With that fact clearly set, let’s look closely at the Shema and see God’s instruction about teaching our children. According to this passage, teaching our children about loving God permeates every moment and element of life. Walking, talking, sitting, laying down, rising up, on your hand, on your head, on your doorposts. Loving God must be thoroughly permeated in our inner being, to then thoroughly penetrate every area of our lives.
A Sunday only or even a Sunday/Wednesday faith will not be enough. Our life must be so infused with your relationship with Jesus that it spills over into everything we think, say, and do. Our children should not be able to miss our love for God. Everything they hear and see should tell them how much we love God and prompt them towards that love as well.
The problem. We are still imperfect people wrestling with our flesh and our faith. Our faith in Jesus means He resides within us. The irony of the supernatural Holy Spirit living inside our human flesh with its own desires is best explained in Galatians 5:16-17.
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not
do the things that you wish.”
Galatians 5:16-17
Paul tells us that walking in the Spirit is how we overcome the power and influence of the desires of our flesh. Sometimes we need to do what we can in physical, tangible ways to set us up to walk in the Spirit.
Setting Physical Jesus Reminders
When I was about 5 years into my journey with Jesus, I recognized the battle I had with my flesh. Because my relationship with Jesus was growing, presenting Jesus to my children became a strong desire for me as a Christian mom. I felt that I needed to set physical reminders around me that when I was tempted to fall into step with my flesh desires, something could trigger me towards acting like Jesus instead of Pat.
This was in the days of the WWJD movement. WWJD stood for What Would Jesus Do. I bought myself a thumb ring engraved with WWJD so that every time a questionable thought, word, or action came to mind, the ring reminded me that I belonged to Jesus. It was my constant reminder for my actions to display Jesus. I wore that ring until I wore the WWJD completely off. Now, probably 20 years later, I have 2 thumb rings I wear, one top of the other with JESUS engraved on each. These still remind me of my priority relationship with Jesus and to display Jesus in all that I do.
Another way I choose to set reminders about Jesus in my life, is Scripture verses written on index cards and set in places that I know I can’t miss. My bathroom mirror, my car dashboard, my desk or computer. Often times the Scriptures I set as reminders may be prayers I am praying for myself or my children. Sometimes, the verses may reflect an area of transformation I need in my own life, but they always point me to Jesus. This is my practical way I live out Deuteronomy 6:4-9.
Dear Sister in Christ, I encourage you to write Deuteronomy 6:4-9 on several index cards and set them in places you see them throughout your day. Each time you see it, read it and ask God to help you to love Him with your everything and to help you teach your children (young or adult) about loving Him as well.
