What to Pass Along

Saturday - May 28th Scripture to Read for Today's Devotional: Deuteronomy 6:1-5

---

Love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Deuteronomy 6:5

While my childhood has a lot of twists and turns, one of the strange twists is that I spent a lot of time watching television. Not just any TV - I watched old reruns like "I Love Lucy," "The Dick VanDyke Show," and others. Add to that all the hours watching "Gilligan's Island," Green Acres," and other goofy sitcoms of the 60s and 70s. When my kids were young and didn't know any better, they enjoyed watching DVD's full of these odd, out of date television shows.

Alas, as they aged and came under the influence of their mother, they strayed from enjoying these vital remnants of American pop culture. My kids developed some skepticism toward my love for the classics. But, now, every time their knowledge of the TV classics pays off in a conversation they have with someone, they sarcastically let me know their appreciation for their high education!

As parents, we often share our favorite oddities of life with our kids. Lesli knows strange old jokes passed along to her by her father. Our kids have heard most of them from their grandfather directly, and a few from their mom. Parents share with their children things that have some special meaning to them—often much more important things than classic TV shows and old jokes. 

In the Old Testament, God instructs His people to share with their children Who He is and how important it is for them to follow Him. In Deuteronomy 6:1-5, He gives clear instructions on how parents and grandparents should pass along their faith to their children and grandchildren. At the heart of this instruction is a call to know there is one God and love Him with all you've got. 

As parents, we need to point our children to the One Who made them and loves them. We need to encourage them to love Him. As we do that, we should explain that the only way any of us can love Him is because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). The more we understand His love for us through His Son, the more our love for Him grows. We should exemplify this kind of growing, expanding love for our kids.

Enjoying and passing along strange interests to our kids is one thing. But, making sure we love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength is such a critical thing for all of us. For parents, passing that kind of love for God on to our kids is the most important thing we can ever pass along.

Today love God with all you've got. Let others (including your family) see that love lived out in your life!