Today, I’m double dipping, in a way. I’ve promised that Fridays would bring a
devotional thought from the Lutheran Confessions. And today’s devotional thought will keep that
promise; but it will also speak directly to the Christian family, and I pray
the Holy Spirit would use it to encourage all of us in the Way of Christ.
Deuteronomy 6:6-8
6 And these words that I command you today shall be on
your heart. 7 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. 8 You shall bind them
as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
Small Catechism
At the beginning of
each section of the Small Catechism, Martin Luther includes this phrase: As the Head of the Family Should Teach Them
in a Simple Way to His Household.
Devotion
In the name of + Jesus.
Parents (and grandparents) do much for their children, there
is no denying that. They get up early,
they work long hours, they prepare meals, they repair the house, they
discipline, they console, they explain.
They load them into the mini-van and drop them off at school, or at
piano lessons, or at soccer practice, or to go hang out with friends. They spend their money on school clothes, and
sports gear, and entertainment, and food, and even more food. Parents do so much for their children that it
would be impossible to list everything that is done by parents for the sake of
their children. I’m afraid, however,
that in many of our homes, the most important thing parents (and grandparents)
could ever do for their children is being lost.
Amidst the busyness of our modern-day schedules, and with
many homes having mom and dad both working full time (or with only one parents
in the home), and with the pressures of society to have our children participating
in sports, and music, and scouts, and whatever else “everyone else is doing,” even
Christian parents find it difficult to squeeze into their busy schedules the
most important thing that they could ever do for their children.
I know this, because it happens to me, too. You see, pastors and their families aren’t immune
from these temptations. Pastors are
Called and Ordained servants of the Word, but if the Lord has blessed a pastor
and his wife with children, that never-ending list of things which parents do
for their children applies to them as well.
He got up early to make breakfast for the kids, and then took them to
school. And since he’s spent the day
studying Matthew for a Bible Class, and translating John in preparation for
Sunday’s sermon, and coming up with a creative way to teach the Small Catechism
for those confirmation kids, and delivering Holy Communion to a shut-in, and
sitting with a grieving family who has lost a loved one, and writing up a
report for that night’s board meeting, and reading a passage of Scripture to one
of God’s children in the congregation who is hurting, when he gets home for
dinner, he’s tired. And since he has 45
minutes before he has to head back to church for that night’s meeting, you can imagine,
that lighting the candles on the family altar and opening the Bible and the
hymnal for family devotions when the kiddos don’t look like they’re in the mood
to sit much longer, is not what he is most desiring to do.
But even pastors are fathers; and their wives are mothers. And that means they’re just like you. That means that, just like you, there is one
thing that our children need from us more than any other. More than any other thing that we can do for
them—yes, even more than food on the table, and clothes on their bodies—our children
need from us to give to them the faith.
You might think I’m talking about parents bringing their
children to church, or making sure their little ones are in Sunday School. I’m not.
Those issues are related, to be sure, but there’s something even more basic
about what parents can do for their children.
You see, that passage above from Deuteronomy wasn’t written
to priests, or to pastors. It was
written for parents—fathers, specifically.
And in that passage the LORD calls a father to be sure that the first
thing he is giving to his children, is the Word of God. And what about mothers? Well, mothers in households where the father
is making sure to give his children the Word of God, will serve as the partner
she was created by God to be. But unlike
piano lessons, and dance class, and chaperoning the weekend trip with the
boy/girl scouts, teaching the faith to your children by giving them the Word of
God is not something to be delegated to others.
All around us, we lament the breakdown in society, and all
the while, the Word of God is heard in the home less and less (again,
attendance in Church is for another day).
We say that we trust in God, and that we believe His Word, and that we
want our children to stay in the church when they’re older, but then our
schedules reflect that we would rather give them many other things before we
give them the most important thing.
So what are we to do?
Our jobs aren’t going to lighten up, and our children won’t need any
less of us? What is the solution, if we
actually do desire to be doing what the Lord has called us to do as parents?
Well, first of all, repent.
It’s okay, that’s not a dirty word.
Simply repent. Confess that you’re
not a perfect parent. Confess that you
haven’t been the best father, or the best mother, or even come close. Confess that you’ve allowed many things to squeeze
out God’s Word from your home. Confess that
you need Christ’s forgiveness.
And know, that you have been forgiven already. Jesus died two thousand years ago, and paid
the price even for the sins we commit as parents. And because he rose on Easter, we know that
the Father accepted that sacrifice, and that our sins are gone. Satan’s accusations are now as empty as the
tomb! And that’s good news!
Ah, but there are your children. They’re not going anywhere, now are
they? So live as a renewed, forgiven,
father or mother. Get home tonight, and
pray before dinner. When your children
are going to be, grab your Small Catechism and lead them in Luther’s Evening
Prayer. When you’re able to fight your
fatigue, and your schedule allows you to be together, make every effort to read
that day’s Bible Story after dinner, and ask your children if they have any
questions. Have a commandment of the
week that the whole family will learn and see which stories on the news keep
that commandment, or break it. And most
importantly, when your child sins against you, don’t tell them, “it doesn’t
matter,” or “that’s okay,” tell them, “I forgive you, because Jesus forgives
you.”
There’s no magic formula for this, and you might not even do
it with a happy heart, or a joyful sprit.
Like so many other things you do for your children, you will just have to
do it because you know it is what they need.
But I promise you that when your children start to speak the Lord’s Prayer
with you, and when they begin asking questions about Jesus’ death and
resurrection, or when they ask you to forgive them, there will be no lack of
joy in your heart then.
Father’s that give their children the Word of God, are
giving their children Jesus. It really
is that simple. And when homes are
filled not only with parents and children, but with the risen Lord Jesus Himself,
then our homes will be beautiful, no matter how long it has been since the
carpet was cleaned!
Christ is risen! He
is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Prayer
Visit, O Lord, the
homes in which Your people dwell, and keep all harm and danger far from them.
Grant that we may dwell together in peace under the protection of Your holy
angels, sharing eternally in Your blessings; through Jesus Christ, our Lord
(LSB, p. 315).
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