A GOD-LIVED LIFE: Family Devotions

            We are in a series of sermons with a Stewardship emphasis. Stewardship, ultimately, is about our entire life. We use what God gives us to his glory and for the good of our neighbor. Over the next few months, we will consider the various ways we use the gifts God gives us as is God-pleasing.

          Each week, I will be sending out an email to further encourage what we pondered on the first Sunday of that month. In this way, the thoughts do not perish by that Sunday evening, but each one can give intentional consideration how he or she may put into practice what was proclaimed as a God-pleasing way to serve him.

          For the month of October, we continue to consider what it means to have A Life of Being a Disciple.

A GOD-LIVED LIFE: A LIFE OF BEING A DISCIPLE

Week #3      Family Devotions

            Shortly before the Israelites were to enter the Promised Land, Moses proclaimed this word of the Lord to them: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.   You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.   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). 

            Some Jews have taken these words literally.  They post on their doors a little block of wood with these verses in them.  It is called a mezuzah, and it is supposed to be a reminder of God’s word.  I am curious if anyone knows the verses in it or even pays attention to it anymore.  That is a danger we also can face.  We may let familiarity with God’s word become a reason to not give it much thought outside of Sundays.  The danger is that we can think of our faith being limited to what we do on Sunday rather than something we live all week long.

            God wants families to talk about his word.  It applies to our lives constantly.  We daily struggle with temptations, and we often fall into sin.  We not only need admonition so that we resist sin and temptation, but especially so that we remember our God is a loving and gracious God who has set us apart from a dying world for a higher purpose and a glorious future.

            To aid in discussing God’s word, there are many devotional books to use.  You can read through parts of Luther’s Small Catechism.  You may also use the Bible itself, reading a brief section of Scripture and then talking about it.  You can talk about the sermon from Sunday.  That’s the best children’s lesson of all, because it teaches your children that what they heard on Sunday morning still matters at home.  Parents, then, reinforce the faith of their children.

            Family devotions can take place whenever you choose.  Perhaps the most convenient and beneficial is to do them right after supper.  Sit down and eat as a family.  Discuss what is going on in your lives.  Following the meal, have a brief devotion.  (It does not need to be a church service.)  All of these tighten the bonds of your family and will bring great blessings to your home—which is exactly what God desires you to have.