Investing in the Next Generation

This week we are beginning a new Thursday series about the importance of investing in others, especially younger generations. As we dive into this new series, we will be starting by taking a close look at Deuteronomy 6:1-13.

In this passage in Deuteronomy, Moses has gathered the young nation of Israel and is reminding them of what God has done for them and the commands that He has given to them. He is explaining what they need to be doing as they prepare and enter the Promised Land. He begins this part by saying:

“Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. ‘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.’”
Deuteronomy 6:1-6

We see in these verses that there is a clear plan that the commands of God and living a life devoted to God are to be passed down from generation to generation. In order to do that though, God and His commands need to be fully embraced by “you”. Although the generations are mentioned, Moses is speaking to and giving these directions and reminders to the generation standing right in front of Him. The same is true of us today. We can’t pass the responsibility off to someone older or someone younger or someone with little kids or older kids or grandkids or whatever other ideas we have of who this applies to. If you are reading these words, then this applies to you. If you still have the eyesight and comprehension to read these words, it applies to you. If you’ve just learned to read and comprehend, it applies to you too. There are always people younger than us or people who have not learned and grown in God as much as we have. Those people need to hear and be taught. They need people to invest in them and help them grow in fearing the Lord our God. They need you.

So, now that we’ve established that you are needed to invest in the lives of others including the next generations where do you start? You start where this passage starts, specifically in verses 4-6 we see:

“‘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.’”

These verses are so important that they formed the foundation a prayer, the Shema, recited twice a day by Jews beginning more than a hundred years before the birth of Jesus. They were considered to represent the core of their faith: an understanding of who God is, a call to love Him with everything in us, and a call to keep His commands. This is where we start. We can’t pass on a faith that we don’t really have. To invest in others and share God’s love we need to be embracing that love and faith ourselves.

We start by placing our own trust in God. If you’ve never done that, please find someone to talk to about how you do that. You can even reach out through our website and I’d be happy to discuss that with you. Choosing to follow God and make him Lord of our lives is where we start, but then we face the day-by-day, moment-by-moment choices to love Him will all our heart, soul, and might. In other words, choosing to have a loving relationship with the Mighty God. This means spending time with Him, listening to Him, talking to Him, getting to know Him, seeking His advice and direction, and serving Him. This might sound like a lot, but take a moment to think of the best relationship in your life, maybe with a spouse, a friend or someone else. You probably do, or have done, all of these things and more in that relationship. Loving God means investing in that relationship just like any other good relationship requires.

A relationship with God is different from other relationships though. It is a relationship with the Creator of the Universe. As I’ve frequently explained to kids before, God created everything so that means He knows how it works best. Because He knows how it works best, He set up rules so that we know how to get the most enjoyment from it. That is why in Deuteronomy 6:6 He says, “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.” Part of our relationship with God is understanding His guidelines and commands. They aren’t to limit us or punish us, but because He loves us so much and wants the best for us. When we can truly accept that, it makes it easier to desire to keep His commands on our heart. Once they are there, we can share them with others in love as well.

I hope you will continue to join me throughout this series on investing the next generations. As you begin to consider the importance of this, I hope that the verses we have read today encourage you to start wherever you are and make sure that you have a relationship with God worth sharing with others.