“These commandments I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on you hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:6-9
As the children of Israel were getting ready to go into the land that God had promised them, Moses spent some time talking to them. He reviewed God’s commandments and emphasized their importance. Moses had a charge for them too. In not a few words he encouraged the people to internalize the laws of God, teach them to their children, talk about them wherever they were, to wear bracelets and headbands made from them and put them on their gates and doorpost!
In verse 5 of Deuteronomy 6 the law (or commandments) are summed up in these words, “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your strength”. Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 22:36 and 37 when asked which commandment was the greatest.
Today, it is still the greatest commandment of all. We are called to love God with all we have and give Him priority in our lives. We too have a responsibility to teach His word to our children and grandchildren and share it with others wherever we go. We too should walk so close to God that His word is reflected in our home, our work and in all we do. So many in the world are lost and do not know the love of God. As Christians, our great charge is to be that witness to them that they also may come to salvation.