Handing Down Your Faith

“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is 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. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons 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 up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9

“You shall teach them (God’s commands) diligently to your sons...” (vs. 7). The word diligence adds force and weight to these words of direction given to the children of Israel. They are to teach diligently.

Diligence is defined as “constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent exertion of body or mind; preserving, untiring, tireless.” That is how a Christian parent should be teaching the principles and truths of God’s Word to their children.

Before you can pass anything on to someone else, you must first be in possession of it.

- Do you have a faith to leave to your children?

- By your lifestyle, are you leaving your children with clear instruction and a consistent pattern to follow for living according to godly values and principles?

- Are you passing on to your children what you really want to pass on to them?

Habits are caught, not taught, and it’s much the same when it comes to children following their parents’ pattern regarding their faith or practicing biblical guidelines. The pattern always prevails over the principle - so live it.

A parent wants to hand down a faith that equips their children to serve God.