If Love is the Mission...

love.

Recently I wrote a post on making a Family Mission Statement, where our first part of that statement is "Love" above all else. But how do you unpack a mission of "love" in your household?

We are constantly trying to teach our kids to love us and each other by preferring one another over ourselves, sharing our things, and generally showing kindness. This mission, however, is attempting to take things a little deeper. 

I want to take a few posts to unpack the mission of love. 
 

It starts with the first commandment. 

" “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 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." Deuteronomy 6:4-9

This commandment to love the Lord with all strength and diligence was so important to God that it was emphasized by being intentional about ingraining it deep in the hearts of the children. The more physical things you could do to put the law in front of the children, day and night, when you come and go, keeping it in front of their eyes, etc., the more it would be absorbed and passed to the next generation. It was not just believing in what is right, but keeping it before your eyes at all times.  

So as we talk about "love" as a family mission, are number one "love" is to adore God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. When we love one another, then we are loving God. We are asking God, "what does this mean for us?" How do we "teach our children diligently" as described here in the modern day America?

How do you teach your children the first commandment at home? How do you pass down the "law" of the Lord intot the hearts of your children? I'd love to hear from you!