Thursday, July 18, 2013

Be Careful

“I want to live my life and party,” my son sang as he worked around the house.  It was a catchy little tune that he had heard on a kids movie he had recently seen. He just kept singing it over and over, those same words. Then he got the other kids singing it with him.

You know how it is when you’re kids are being loud saying the same thing over and over again It just becomes too much. You need them to be quiet!  Well, this was not the case here. The noise wasn’t bothering me.  It was those words. Hearing my kids say them over and over again. I just couldn’t take it and apparently neither could my husband. He told my son to stop singing that song, life isn’t a party.

My son, 9 years old, was totally confused as to why we would be bothered by him singing that song.  As expected he asked why and this opened a door to what I felt was a great teaching moment. My husband began by explaining to my son that God’s purpose for our lives was not that it would be spent partying.  The bible tells us to work and take care of our family.  We are to have responsibilities and follow God wherever He leads. He also explained to him that when he keeps repeating those words over and over again to himself it will become a belief or an expectaion. And that belief or expectation is contrary to the life that God wants for him therefore it is sin. He might as well be walking around singing “I want to live my life in sin.”

“Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.”  Deuteronomy 11:16

Deuteronomy 11 starts with Moses telling the Israelites, “Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of The Lord your God.”  Then later in verse 8 there is a very important word, therefore.  “Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today...” He has given the command, then in verse 16 the warning to the ones who have seen and experienced the discipline of The Lord, and then He gives the how to:

“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.   Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.” Deuteronomy 11:18-21

Just like the Israelite’s children, our children have not seen and experienced the discipline of the Lord and because of that we need to be very careful, for our children’s sake, to obey the commands of The Lord.  We are what our children see.

To some it may seem a little extreme to stop our son from singing those words but not to us who have seen and experienced the destruction that comes with a belief and expectation that life is a party.  My husband and I have seen and experienced that devastation.  We want instead to fix God’s word in our minds and hearts and teach them to our children.  We want to live out a life of obedience to The Lord that our kids can see everyday. We want to lead them always toward The Lord.

So I leave you with the Lord’s warning to the Israelites, “Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.”

2 comments:

  1. Amen!! Great post Courtney!!!

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  2. Amen! It's funny (well, not really) how subtle sin can sneak into our minds and heart if we are not careful. I love the way you and your hubby handled that. Like you said, that false expectation can become real if not unchecked. Love you girl!

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