The Duty of Parents – The Kingdom Curriculum XIX (3)

The Duty of Parents

“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.” Deuteronomy 6:6-9

To their great credit, many Christian parents today devote many hours, much strength, and considerable expense in caring for their children and ministering to their needs. To their shame, much of that effort and expense is wasted in activities that have little to do with justice and the plan of God for their lives.

Parents and the home are the trainers and training ground of justice in the community of faith. Moses makes that abundantly clear in the text before us today. Parents must first of all provide an example of justice to their children. They must devote their hearts to studying and living by the Law and Word of God. Their prayer must ever be that of the psalmist, “I incline my heart to perform your statutes, forever to the end” (Ps. 119:112). And they must so walk in the ways they are learning that all their thoughts (“frontlets”) and actions (“hand”) demonstrate the reality of the Truth of God lived.

Second, parents must diligently teach their children the Law of God. The word implies special time and focus set aside for instruction, interaction, and thinking together about the application of God’s Word to particular situations. Parents must not default on this responsibility to Sunday schools or youth groups, as valuable as these can sometimes be. Diligent instruction in justice and the requirements of love are the most important investments parents must make in their children.

But parents must also teach their children casually, that is, as “teaching moments” come up throughout the day. Our lives are filled, as Jesus consistently demonstrated, with situations, things, events, and people which lend themselves to moments of instruction in the things of the Lord. Parents in their rising and sitting and walking about with their children must learn to be alert to such opportunities and to make the most of them for furthering the cause of God’s justice (Eph. 5:15-17).

Moreover, parents must work to create an environment of learning for justice in their homes. This is the meaning of “writing” the Law of God on the “doorposts” of the house. Everything about our homes should speak to children and visitors about our commitment to the beauty, goodness, and Truth of God. Justice will be encouraged in a home where the Law of God is exemplified and taught, and that is conscientiously furnished, adorned, and guarded in every way by parents who insist on using their homes in the promotion of justice and love.

Reading and meditating on the Law of God is every believer’s duty and privilege (Ps. 1). Order your copy of The Law of God, a compendium of the commandments and precepts of God’s Law, by going to www.MyParuchia.com, point your browser to “Publications,” then click on the drop-down option, “Waxed Tablet Publications.”

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.