Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
– Deuteronomy 4:6-9
Last month, the Education Staff at Tallowood had the opportunity to go to the D6 Conference. D6 stands for Deuteronomy 6. D6 is a conference created around a movement among churches to bring faith back into the home using Deuteronomy 6 as the spiritual formation model for the church. Since this is something you will be hearing about in one form or another in the coming years, I wanted to take some time and share with you some of the things I am learning and re-learning from this passage known as the Shema.
Many people take this passage as an admonition for parents to teach their children and it is certainly that. However, the passage begins with “Hear, O Israel.” The message was for all of Israel whether priest or leaders like Joshua and Caleb, young or old, those with children and those without children.
In this day and age, just as in Moses’ time, God’s call to obedience and holiness is for all of the people of God. His calling is on all of our lives whether the fulfillment of that calling is as a minister in the church or workplace, whether we are young or old, and whether we are single, single again or married.