Faith and Family

Today after our sermon at church I began to think about what was said. Using Deuteronomy 6:1-23, yes it is a long section of verses, but it really got my wheels turning and I hope it will for you also. Let me just start by saying that this is my opinion and not the views of anyone else. Let me first quote the scripture:

Dt 6:1 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,
Dt 6:2 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.
Dt 6:3 Hear, O 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 fathers, promised you.
Dt 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Dt 6:5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Dt 6:6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
Dt 6:7 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.
Dt 6:8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
Dt 6:9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Dt 6:10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you-a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build,
Dt 6:11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant-then when you eat and are satisfied,
Dt 6:12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Dt 6:13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.
Dt 6:14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you;
Dt 6:15 for the LORD your God , who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.
Dt 6:16 Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah.
Dt 6:17 Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you.
Dt 6:18 Do what is right and good in the LORD'S sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers,
Dt 6:19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said.
Dt 6:20 In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?"
Dt 6:21 tell him: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
Dt 6:22 Before our eyes the LORD sent miraculous signs and wonders-great and terrible-upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household.
Dt 6:23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers.

Well as I look at these versus I see nothing about a church building. Do you? I just felt rather odd about this sermon, due to the fact that the statement was made that we must not turn our children from the Church. There was never a statement about turning our children from God. Let me see if I can explain this. A lot of us have grown up in a church building, I myself being one of them. It did not turn me from God, however it did not engrain it either. Just because we have a "religious ritual" of going to church does not make us Christians. What makes us Christians is by doing what I believe is spelled out above. That is walking in faith and showing the love of Christ to others, not by attending a meeting ever Sunday, but by living by the word of God. Gods word tells us how important fellowship is with others, but never says "Hey you got to go to church!". Now do not get me wrong I believe that church is good for the soul and will fill you up and does teach our children how to worship God. Why can't that happen at home. Here is the scenario...We got to a building on Sunday, yes every Sunday and we praise and worship God and get a lesson, shortly after leaving things are back to normal and the daily grind begins again. What good is going to a church building for us or our children if we are not living it daily and moment by moment? A building does not mark nor does it give you bonus heaven points I assure you. What does God require of you? He says to Love God and Love thy Neighbor...so what is the problem? How much more will our children grow in Christ and in Faith if we would just LIVE IT? If our children could see the love of God everyday in the world around them that would be a huge lesson. Instead we live in a world that is basically R rated and we try to keep them in the Disney frame of mind. Do you really think that will work? Absolutely not. We cannot shelter them from everything, but we can teach them. People say "well if you go to work on Sundays, that is what your kids see and will do", or "If you speak ill of someone in the church, they will think ill also", well I have to agree with that last statement, but I do not think that applies just to church. Us speaking ill of people happens all the time and is not a lesson any of us should teach, but will it keep them from church? Working is also important and God wants us to do what is necessary to provide for our families, a kid having a good work ethic is wonderful. So if you do not go on Sundays to the church building and that is going to make them stray later from Christ, then what do we do about it? Well we could start will putting church aside and bringing GOD into our everyday lives in and outside the home in every moment. I just do not believe that a church building is the key, it is the people within and the journey and walk that they walk outside those four walls that are important. Religion and Politics unfortunately are all one in the same. We are not humans having a spiritual experience, but we are spirits having a human experience. If we live our life in the spiritual then why do we need a building? Let alone a building that a congregation puts hundreds and thousands of dollars into when there are mouths in our own communities that need to be fed. There are so many ways that this could go and I am trying my very best to stay on track with this. If you show your children what a RELATIONSHIP with God is, then I do not think a building will be the focus for the rest of their lives. The focus should be on God not on the schedule of worship hymns or sermons. The focus is to be on family and God being the center of that. Going to church every Sunday at 10:45 is not going to grow those children to God anymore than reading the word of God every night...both are wonderful things and I believe are important, but the focus should be a second to second LIFESTYLE. The way we speak and interact with others. The way we love. Religion will be the one thing that pushes them from God, relationship will be the glue that binds them with us as parents and God as the Father of all.