In our society we often make a distinction between those who work part-time and those who work full-time. It is a helpful way to describe activities and expectations in the work place. However, there is a “job” where everyone is full-time and are just a phone call or text from responding. The “wages” from this job may not seem great, but the “retirement benefits” are beyond belief. The truth is that in Christianity there are no part-time “jobs.”
Those with children can appreciate that in Christ there are no part-time parents. Godly parents look at their children and realize the demands for them to train up a child in the way he should go (Prov. 22:6) and to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). Our God-given responsibility is to take these gifts from heaven and to do with them what a skilled hunter does with an arrow. They are God’s children which He has given to us for such a short time to make sure when we release these arrows they go in the right direction (Psa. 127:4).
Before the Jews entered the Promised Land, Moses describes how to do this using these words. After giving the greatest commandment God ever gave about our love for Him, he then said, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes” (Deut. 6:6-9).
This is far more than occasionally talking to them about God! Every day there are so many opportunities to talk to a child—at home or riding in a car; at home when getting them ready to sleep and when beginning the next day’s activities. We may not have any idea about frontlets or signs on our hands, but we can let them see us with the Bibles in our hands to guide them. Seize the events happening in your life or theirs to let them see that God can be part of every day.
Later in this chapter, Moses says that we should not just teach our children the laws of God but to make sure they understand the meaning behind the laws. They were not just to teach the regulations about the Sabbath, but to explain how it related to God. In our lives, we do not just bring them to church, but we make sure they sit and learn both how to worship and why we worship. Wise parents will see it not as a time to be distracted by toys or games, but a time to help them join in be part of worship before God.
This article focused on part-time/full-time parents, but there are other great applications. Just wait and see!