The Great Priority.
A biblical parenting plan …
In the New Testament, we have the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20).
In the Old Testament, we have the Great Priority (Deuteronomy 6:1-9). I call Deuteronomy 6:1-9 the Great Priority because its significance is supreme. This is a sit up and pay attention text! Why? Because this text outlines the plan for parenting and faith formation within the home.
The importance of Deuteronomy 6 is so significant that verses 4 and 5 are given a special name – the Shema. The Shema is the Jewish pledge of allegiance, daily prayer (equivalent to the Lord’s Prayer in the Christian tradition), and hymn of praise. In English, the Hebrew word “Sh’ma” literally means listen, hear and do.
A Biblical Parenting Plan.
According to the Great Priority, there are three things God wants us to do:
1. Obey God.
“These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you” Deuteronomy 6:1-3.
The Great Priority begins with Moses reminding the Israelites that God “directed” him to teach them God’s Word. The word translated “teach” means training that leads to a change in conduct. Teaching God’s Word isn’t an intellectual exercise. Nor is it offering opinions or making suggestions. It’s proclaiming God’s Word as authoritative Truth. Christian parenting starts with you believing God’s Word has authority in your life and the lives of everyone in your family.
Verse 2 gives the reason why God directed Moses to teach His Word: So that each generation would live in lifelong devotion to God. Note the conditional promise. As each generation submits to the authority of God’s Word and devotes themselves to the Lord, they will enjoy the blessings of long, fulfilled lives.
God inspires obedience by promising blessings. God wanted Israel to succeed, and He wants us to succeed. Do you want your children and grandchildren to live good, long lives? Teach them to honour the Lord by living in step with His Word.
Verse 3 emphasizes verse 2. Note the phrase “be careful to obey.” It means “do what God tells you to do.” Acting on God’s Word should never be a matter of debate. God expects that we pay close attention to His Word by listening intently and responding faithfully to it. Listening but not doing anything is disobedience. We’re not blessed just by listening to God’s Word. We’re blessed when we’re Nike Christians. In other words, we’re blessed when we “Just do it!”
2. Love God.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” Deuteronomy 6:4-5.
Why should we obey God? Because “The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (v. 4). This is the Shema – a profound statement about right belief and right relationship. It indicates that the Lord is the only supreme, trustworthy, faithful, loving, worthy, excellent, and immortal God. There is no one else like Him. This is the Truth we must teach our children. Without it, we can’t help them grow to be like Jesus.
It’s also why we must love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and strength (v. 5). Because there is only one true God, we’re to love Him totally, unreservedly, wholly, with all our emotional, mental, and physical vigour. God alone must be our only love. We must have no other gods before Him (Deuteronomy 5:7). We must worship and adore Him with nothing held back – nothing held in reserve.
Do you want your children and grandchildren to love the Lord with all that’s in them, with all they’ve got? The most significant part of discipling your children to love and live for the Lord is letting them see you living for Him day in and day out, with every ounce of love that you possess.
3. Teach children about God.
“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates” Deuteronomy 6:6-9.
Loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength isn’t a private affair. I remember sharing the Gospel with my father many years ago, and he said, “Even if I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, you’ll never know, because I think faith is a private matter.” My father had an unbiblical perspective. Faith is a gift to be shared, not a treasure to be hidden away.
So, how do you teach your children about God? It starts with nurturing your own faith. To impact your family with the love of Christ, you need a vibrant, intimate relationship with the Lord. Note the phrase, “be on your hearts.” When something’s on your heart, it means you’re preoccupied with it, paying attention to it, and constantly thinking about it.
Some people tattoo the name or a picture of the person they love on their body. Our love for the Lord must be more than skin deep. His Word must be inscribed (carved) on our hearts!
Confucious, a Chinese philosopher and sage, said, “To put the world in order we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order; we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.”
What do you want for your children? Chap Bettis, author of the Disciple Making Parent, says, “Each parent must decide whether he is more concerned that his child be accepted into Heaven, or ‘Harvard’. We all have ‘Harvards’—those worldly successes we desire for our children, but the question remains, ‘Which is most important to me?’ Each parent must finish the sentence ‘I have no greater joy than …’”
How did you answer the question? What do you really want for your children? The goal for most parents is for their children to reach their full creative, intellectual, or social potential. That’s a self-actualization goal, but it’s not God’s goal for your children. God wants your children to reflect Jesus to the world.
Here’s the rub: You can’t profess what you don’t possess. Parents should be more concerned not with their children’s hearts but with their own. Why? Because it’s out of the overflow of your heart that your mouth speaks (Luke 6:45).
Eugene Peterson, in The Message, says, “Get them (the Scriptures) inside of you, and then get them inside your children.” Having a Bible is not enough. Is God’s Word engraved on your heart? What’s in your heart spills into your children’s hearts. Teaching your children about the Lord isn’t simply regurgitating a curriculum or reading a devotion together. It’s sharing what’s in your heart.
Scripture Union’s international children’s ministry trainer, Terry Williams, says that disciple-making is hindered by “time-bounded spaces – in our gathered church programs and our scheduling of family devotions and bedtime prayers.” I agree. Discipling our children can’t be compartmentalized or scheduled. Spiritual formation doesn’t fit in a box! It’s a rhythm of work, play, study, service, rest, eating, leisure, worship, and everyday activities that are saturated with the presence of Jesus, empowered by God’s Spirit, and rooted in Scripture.
Now, for the one sentence in the Bible that captures the essence of a biblical parenting plan. Here it is! “Impress them (the Scriptures) on your children” (v.7).
The word translated “impress” in the NIV is rendered as teach the Scriptures “diligently” (ESV) and “repeat them again and again” (NLT). “Again and again” means frequently. Great coaches drill repetition. Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers ran the same six plays over and over until they became second nature to the players. Repetition in the Packers’ training helped them make yardage, score touchdowns, and win games.
Now, consider the phrase “on your children.” Who should be impressing God’s Word on our children? Is it the Sunday School teacher, youth leader, or pastor? Who is tasked with teaching children God’s truth? If they’re “your children,” they’re not my children. It’s not my job to impress the Scriptures on your children. It’s the parents’ job. Mums and dads are primarily responsible for diligently teaching the Scriptures to their children.
The point is that you can’t outsource the faith formation of your children. You can’t subcontract teaching God’s Word to your local church or Christian school. And it’s not the KidsMin director who should be leading your children to Christ. The faith community should be a stimulus, not a substitute, for faith formation in the home.
According to the 2021 Canadian Children’s Ministry Report, many Christian parents exhibit an unwillingness or resistance to nurture their children’s faith formation. One children’s ministry pastor said, “We’re aware of parents’ hesitation to own the discipleship of their children.” That’s tragic! Impressing the Scriptures on your children is an incredible privilege God has given YOU!
Now, for some parents, impressing the Scriptures on their children may seem daunting or intimidating. But it shouldn’t be. You may lack confidence or feel ill-equipped, but when God appoints you to do something, as you proceed with it, He enables you to accomplish it.
So, how do you get on with it? By spontaneously teaching and modelling God’s Word as part of the rhythm of everyday living. Practically, this involves seeing every person, situation or event as a potential object lesson to teach or act out God’s Word. Or, as my wife would say, “be on the lookout for teachable moments.”
This isn’t something you do occasionally. Whether at home or out and about, we should always talk about the Scriptures (v.7-9). Daily Bible reading and prayer after supper is not enough. Summer VBS is not enough. A thriving children’s ministry is not enough. The faith formation of your children isn’t a part-time pursuit. You must immerse your children in the Scriptures 24/7, “from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night” (MSG).
Parenting with Purpose and Passion.
Is parenting hard work? For sure. But I know firsthand that when the primary source for helping children engage with God’s Word is their parents, it’s incredibly fruitful. So, if you’re not impressing the Scriptures on your children, get started.
Author and preacher Francis Chan said, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.”
Habits are formed in the home. The years your children spend with you are relatively short. You only get one shot at parenting, one chance to impress the Scriptures on your children, and one opportunity to establish your children in the Word so that they, in turn, will impress the Scriptures on their children. There are no second chances. If your children and grandchildren are going to live as God intended, then the rhythm of the Shema must saturate your home.
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Summary
In Deuteronomy 6:1-9, God outlines a robust biblical parenting plan for faith formation in the home, emphasizing obedience, love, and teaching His Word to the next generation. The Shema, found in verses 4 and 5, calls us to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and strength, which is the foundation for guiding our children in their faith. Parents are responsible for instilling God’s Word in their children, teaching them not just through words but also through everyday actions and examples. This ongoing, daily process of faith formation is crucial for establishing a legacy of devotion to God, shaping future generations to live as God intended.
© Scripture Union, 2025
Soli Deo Gloria
