Today I preached on Deuteronomy 6:1-15. My message was about a multi-generational vision for making disciples. Part of this vision is to have God’s words written on our hearts. How do God’s words go from stone tablets or written pages to our hearts? Verses 7 – 9 give three commands which when we obey the words of God are written on our hearts.
The first is to teach our children God’s words and then grab their hand and help them to live it out. This cannot be achieved by Sunday School teachers or youth group leaders. Parents, specifically fathers, must teach their children the scriptures. In the context of the parent child relationship is where a double blessing occurs and the words of God are written on both the parent’s and child’s heart. Fathers are biblically illiterate and children are leaving the Church in alarming numbers because the practice of family worship has almost been abandoned in the America. The Church’s responsibility is to equip the saints (fathers) but not to do the work for them in a Church welfare program.
The second command is given in verse 8 for writing the words of God on our hearts. The Pharisees had their phylacteries as an outward expression of this command but I believe the Lord had a broader meaning in mind, a spiritual meaning. What this verse teaches is that our actions and our worldview (lens which we interpret the world) should be governed by God’s words. As we constantly ask the question, “What do the scriptures say about this?” God’s words are written on our hearts by constant reinforcement.
The final command for writing the words of God on our hearts is found in verse 9. It pictures a home that engages all the senses for the scriptures. You see scriptures framed in pictures. You hear gospel songs playing. You even smell and taste a Sunday dinner that you remember as part of family worship. A home like this is a place where disciples of Jesus Christ can return to and find healing, cleansing, forgiveness, and a very real faith. True repentance happens in a home like this because God’s words are called into remembrance. They are written on the heart.