Telling the Story

Passage: Deuteronomy 6

The Book of Deuteronomy records Moses’ last words to the people he has led for more than half his life. The Israelites are about to enter the Promised Land. Moses has been denied entry based on an act of disobedience to God. Moses has one last chance to impart to his people the wisdom he’s gained from watching God in action for the past fifty years. Deuteronomy is like an extended sermon – Moses’ version of all the lessons the Israelites learned during their sojourn in the desert.

In Deuteronomy 6 Moses urges his people to hold fast to the rules and principles God has given them. These constitute God’s template for living well – living life the way it was meant to be lived. Moses repeats God’s guarantee: “If you live the way I have taught you to live, things will go well for you in your new life in this new place.”

Moses concludes this part of his sermon with a charge to the parents, and parents-to-be, in the crowd. He says to them, “Don’t let your children forget God’s rules. More importantly, don’t let your children forget what God has done. When your kids ask, ‘Why are these rules important?’, remind them: We were once slaves in Egypt. By his mighty hand God rescued us and brought us to this good place. Don’t let the stories of God’s amazing rescue be forgotten. Tell the stories. Keep telling the stories.”

This continues to be an imperative for God’s people: Keep telling the stories. Countless Christian parents worry about how to raise their kids in the faith – to raise children who grow up to be believing adults. The best way? Tell the stories. Raise them on the stories of God’s people. God’s remarkable call of Abraham. God’s miraculous rescue of his people from slavery in Egypt. God’s unfailing sustenance of the Israelites in the wilderness. God’s unfailing love and faithfulness to a people who fail again and again. God’s rescue of all humanity from our slavery to sin. Start with those stories.

But then tell your own stories. God’s claim on you in your baptism. God’s call on your life as a child. God’s hand at work in your growing-up years. God’s care during some of your hardest times. If you believe in the covenant-making God of the Bible, and have claimed Jesus Christ as your amazing rescuer, then you have stories. Think about them; write them down; tell them to your children. Tell the stories.