The "Shema"

Have you ever heard of “Shema?” This is the Hebrew word for “listen”. There is a portion of the Old Testament known to the Jewish people as the “Shema”. According to some scholars this is the central part of everything that the Israelites believed. Many Jewish people still hold it to be very sacred. What does that have to do with Christianity and more specifically Christian Parents?

Let me just share with you the passage where the “Shema” is found…

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”

This is a blueprint for every true believer… 1. God is God all by Himself. We need to live lives that reflect that He is God and we are NOT. Also, we can trust Him because no problem is to big for Him. 2. Love God with all of yourself. Recognize this? Jesus repeats this when He is asked what is the greatest commandment! (Matt. 22:37-40) So the greatest commandment comes straight from one of the most sacred passages in the Old Testament. We need to love God! - It was very important in OT, in the NT, and today! 3. Obey God’s Word. We need to do more than just tell our kids to be obedient; we need to live it out in front of them. We need to follow God wholeheartedly in front of our kids by obeying God’s Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit! 4. Repeat the Word to your kids all day everyday. Your kids need to hear the Word pouring out of your mouth. Also, they need to hear you pray, speak words of encouragement to others, say kind things to your spouse, and so on. Basically, your kids need to hear wholesome things coming from your mouth and they always need to hear truth.

This model of parenting is Biblical and it is powerful! There is no way that we can be passive in our parenting. I firmly believe that if we don’t “train our children in the way they should go” then the world will train them in the way of the enemy! I believe that as Christian Parents we claim and we carry the name of Christ and we need to show our children. We need to tell our kids what the Apostle Paul told people… “So I urge you to imitate me”. - 1 Corinthians 4:16

Faith Talks… Looks for ways when you are with your children to talk to them about the Lord. When you are getting up and you ask them “did you have good-night rest?” You could change the question to “did God give you a good-night rest?” When you are driving and they are telling you about a bully at school, you can ask them how they think Jesus would want them to deal with the bully. When they get a good grade on their math test you teach them to give glory to God by stopping to pray and thank God for helping them with their test… Just some thoughts from one parent to another. God Bless!