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Parenting isn’t for sissies. In today’s world, it takes courage to speak and live out the truth of God’s Word. Godly parents are willing to do what’s best for their children, not what’s expedient or expected. The premier passage on parenting instructs every parent to keep God’s Word at the forefront of our thinking as a guide for keeping our family strong.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
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.

The Shema (named after the Hebrew word “hear”) reminds all parents that our lives must back up our mouths. The commands we impress on our children should be tied (symbolically) on our hands as we go about our daily business. And God’s instructions should be bound to our minds as a constant guide.

Parenting isn’t for sissies. It is for men and women willing to back up what they say with what they do. Perfectly? You kidding? Not even close. And our kids will be quick to point out the inconsistencies. But they are also fair enough to watch overall patterns…and that’s where we win or lose the game.

Lord, don’t let us speak great words but live little lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.