A New Devotion - Telling the Story

Here's a new devotion that I wrote. It's based on the passage below. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page.

Deuteronomy 6:17-25

Always obey the laws that the Lord has given you and live in a way that pleases him. Then you will be able to go in and take this good land from your enemies, just as he promised your ancestors.

Someday your children will ask, “Why did the Lord give us these laws and teachings?”

Then you will answer:

We were slaves of the king of Egypt, but the Lord used his great power and set us free. We saw him perform miracles and make horrible things happen to the king, his officials, and everyone else. The Lord rescued us from Egypt, so he could bring us into this land, as he had promised our ancestors. That's why the Lord our God demands that we obey his laws and worship him with fear and trembling. And if we do, he will protect us and help us be successful.

Telling the Story

Although my father taught me many things. I think what I remember most are the stories he told and still tells. You see, specific instructions and guidelines are all well and good. Still, I believe the lessons he grounded in his own experiences shaped both my values and my character. For example, I learned about discipline and consequences when he told me about how his grandmother kept him and his brother on a short leash when they were children. And I learned about strength and perseverance when he talked about how his desire to become a mechanical engineer pushed him to and through Virginia Tech. And I learned an awful lot about love and sacrifice whenever he reminisced about the long-distance relationship he had with my mother when he was in Blacksburg and she was in Norfolk. Of course, he could have simply told me to be disciplined and accept consequences, to be strong and show perseverance and to be loving and make sacrifices, which I’m sure he did at different points in my life. And yet it’s the stories I remember.

And maybe that’s why the writer of Deuteronomy challenged God’s people 4,000 years ago and challenges God’s people today to pass the stories on to our children. We need to tell them over and over again. And to do that, well, I think it just makes sense. You see, the better we remember how God was gracious and kind to those whom he called and how that grace and kindness culminated with the coming of Jesus Christ, the more likely we are to respond to him by doing what he’s commanded us to do. In other words, the more we remember his love for us, the more willing and anxious we’re going to be to love one another.