DECEMBER 9, 2014
Our
Life Is A Primer
Read: Deuteronomy
6:4-9
You shall teach them diligently to your children . . . when you walk by
the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. —Deuteronomy 6:7
The New England Primer
was published in the late 1600s. Throughout the colonies that would later
become the United States, the book became a widely used resource.
This early American
textbook was based largely on the Bible, and it used pictures and rhymes based
on scripture to help children learn to read. It also included prayers like this
one: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord, my soul to keep. If I should
die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”
In Colonial America,
this became a way that one generation was able to pass along their faith to the
next generation. It fit well with what God wanted of His people, the ancient
Israelites, as recorded in Deuteronomy 6:6-7, “These words which I command you
today shall be in your heart. You shall teach [God’s commandments] diligently
to your children, and shall talk of them . . . when you walk by the way, when
you lie down, and when you rise up.”
As we talk about who
God is, what He has done for us, and how He desires our love and obedience, our
lives can become primers to the next generation. We can be teaching tools that
God will use to help people in their walk with Him.
Lord, we love You. We want to learn to love
You with all our heart, soul, and strength.
Use our lives and our words to point others to
You,
who first loved us.
When
we teach others, we’re not just spending time, we’re investing it.
Insight
Deuteronomy 6:4-9,
known as the Shema (from the Hebrew for “hear,” v.4), is the basic Jewish
confession of faith. Every devout Jew was to recite the Shema twice daily as a
reminder of the first and second commandments (Ex. 20:2-5). After giving the
Ten Commandments (Deut. 5:6-22), Moses gave God’s people the one heart
principle that undergirds the entire law: “Love the Lord your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (6:5). God demands
exclusive, wholehearted, and undivided allegiance and devotion. Jesus said that
this is “the first and greatest commandment” (Matt. 22:36-38).
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
