Parents must teach their children to pursue and love God with all their hearts.   ~~~   Parents, what are you diligently teaching your children? Think about it. Let’s look first at the definition of diligently. To do anything in a diligent manner is to do so persistently, not carelessly. There is ongoing focus and intentionality with doing something diligently. Some dads are diligent in teaching their children to hunt. Their dad taught them. His dad taught him and it’s been passed down. Some of you have recipes from your great great grandmother. Those ingredients and steps when mixed and mastered just right, deliver dishes that have been enjoyed and diligently passed down for generations. Many of you want your children to LOVE sports or LOVE knitting or LOVE and appreciate woodworking, gardening, music or art. I begin thinking of how I spend my time with my children. What’s my focus. What are our conversations centered mostly around? What am I diligently teaching them? Did you know that God cares greatly about what you teach your children? In fact, He made it very clear early on in scripture what we are to be diligent about, when it comes to what we pass down. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. This command of God was not to be taken lightly then and it is not to be taken lightly today. When Jesus was asked in Matthew 22, “which is the greatest commandment in the law”, this is what he quoted. LOVE God with ALL you are. Give Him your heart, your soul and live that OUT with all your strength! Diligently TEACH this to your children. Can you teach your children to LOVE hunting without GOING hunting? NO. Can you teach your children to LOVE those treasured recipes without cooking them and letting them taste the goodness? NO. Can you teach your children to LOVE God with ALL they are and how they live their life and how they LOVE others without DOING IT YOURSELF, diligently? NO. Talk about the goodness of God in the morning. Share about the grace, provision and blessings of God when you sit, walk, lie down or rise up. Bind these words on your hand and your head. Write them on your walls, your doors and your gates. It should be crystal clear to your children what is the most important thing they need to know and taste and see on a DAILY basis from you and that is to love the Lord their God with all their heart and all their soul and all their strength. If anything has gotten in the way of that teaching, then you’ve placed something above God. That’s the truth. A life of worship is what God calls and commands us all to. Our heart, soul, mind, strength, time, talent, treasure, dreams, gifts and abilities should display to our children, our neighbors and the world that our life is not our own, but lived for God and God alone. I’m Lori Cline.