Deuteronomy 6:6-9 MSG
“Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of you homes and on your city gates."
It has taken me years to get to this point, but I have come to accept the reality that I may have a slight deficiency pertaining to my ability to maintain my attention on a given person, place or thing for what would be generally considered an appropriate amount of time. In other words, the “span" of my attention may not be quite what would be considered normal. In other words, I’m hungry now.
I can remember being told by many of my teachers that I struggled to pay attention in class and focus on my assignments. In elementary school I was forced to sit in the front row because they said it would help me stay focused. In my defence, school was boring.
At home, I had chores to do. One of my chores was to take out the garbage bin to the street curb on garbage day. I can still hear my dad saying “Do you need to write it on your forehead so you won’t forget to take out the garbage?” I had no idea how biblically inspired that statement was. Props pops!
While it may seem like a strange idea to “tie God’s word on to your hands and forehead as a reminder”, I wonder at times, how much I would benefit from taking the advice in Deuteronomy 6 literally. I get the impression that Moses felt quite strongly about the people of Israel prioritizing God’s word and instruction. He wanted the people to commit themselves to not only hearing the word, but to commit themselves to ensure that they would never forget it.
I believe that God wants us to not just hear the word, but to consume the word to get it inside of us. “Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and get them inside your children.” I can’t think of a more relevant piece of advise for Christians today. We live in a consumer world where our attention and affection is being pushed and pulled in every direction. Social Media and TV, readily available 24/7 offer plenty of opportunities for us to consume the world's opinion of who we are and who we should be.
The problem is that what we consume becomes what we assume. (See what I did there?)
Put it this way, if you hear something enough times and talk about it long enough, you’ll start believing that it’s true. I think this is why Moses urged the people to take Gods commandments and “Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them form the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night.” He wanted them to not just hear the promises of God, but to ASSUME they would happen.
I wonder what it is that you have been consuming lately? What have you been assuming to be true in your life? I wonder what it would take to limit the distractions enough to focus on God’s word? I wonder what steps you would be willing to take to remind yourself what it says?
I don’t know about you but I know I could benefit from consuming more of THE book and less of Facebook. And I while I don’t like to admit it, writing it on my forehead might not be such a bad idea… it is biblical after all.
Much love church!
THEO BLOCK
