Follow God's Laws
"They are not just idle words for you -- they are your life." -- Deuteronomy 32:47a
A co-worker and I were reminiscing yesterday about how things have changed since we were in school. Today an assistant elementary school principal eagerly talked about his eventual retirement. Things are different, he explained. Parents are electronically tuned in but not really present. It makes for a difficult situation.
I see it every day. Parents walking through Walmart, a cell phone glued to their ear and their children trailing along. I watch them scheduling their kids for every activity possible except just playtime. They're the ones in the drive-thru getting supper on the go. They rush, rush, rush but they don't listen. They don't teach. They don't have time.
How are our children ever going to learn if we don't teach them? As the Bible says, God's laws aren't just idle words. They are our life. They are the moral code we live by. Without God, we are nothing.
We want our children to simply "know" right from wrong. We don't want to take the extra time to teach them the correct path. It's easier to let it go when a clerk gives us too much change. But children see and hear what we do. When we do nothing, they see that taking what isn't ours is okay so long as no one knows.
We can no longer count on schools to teach our children God's law. Churches are wonderful but only if we attend regularly and we reinforce their teachings with our own words and actions. When it comes down to it, children learn far more from our actions than anything we might say.
Moses warned the Israelites to follow God's law so all would go well with them. He was right then and he's right today. Those basic rules for living are what we must teach our children. They are rules we must live by. They are our life.
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