Teaching our children to walk uprightly before God, standing as men and women before the world to be followers of Jesus Christ, a commandment keeping, covenant making people is a people who will be blessed of the Lord. In the scriptures such a people are called of the Lord to be special, peculiar or even chosen, His people. Perhaps referred to as peculiar because the Lord’s children, not just children of God, but people who have chosen to follow God even in the face of persecution, resisting temptation to follow the ways of the world and instead walk in the steps of the Savior, are often found in the minority. But this does not have to be so.

In ancient Israel, the days of Moses, the Lord emphasized through His prophet the importance of not forgetting the covenants made with Him. He commanded the people to keep His words in their hearts, but not solely in their hearts. They were commanded to teach their children in diligence the word of the Lord, to share the word within their homes, and with their neighbors as they traversed the land. The people of God should share of Him from the time they rise in the morning until the time they lay down to bed at night. They would mark their homes, for all to see, that herein abide a people that follow God.

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates” (Deuteronomy 6:6-9).

“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

Deuteronomy 6:7

We who have chosen to enlist in the service of God, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, must stand with Him in the things that we teach our children, and the examples we set for our fellow beings. We must indeed be a peculiar people, a special people, who are not set apart by prideful hearts or sanctimonious actions, but by the desire in love to build God’s kingdom wherever we may be.

None of us are perfect or even draw nigh to perfection. We all need the saving grace, the atoning power of the Lord Jesus Christ, to cleanse us from our sin that we might be perfected in Him and re-enter the presence of Heavenly Father. It is not our small sins, perhaps not even our big ones, that will keep us from purification, but our unwillingness to accept the divine gift of redemption simply because we would rather follow the doctrines of men instead of the love of Christ. His atoning sacrifice is far reaching beyond any power we may believe to have which could disqualify us from grace, but if we reject His love, His infinite gift freely given, that is the risk that we take for ourselves and those who would follow after us.

The world in which we live is sorrowfully in dire need of peculiar people who will stand with goodness, stand with Christ, and show the way to a better life. The wickedness of warring men, those who reject human compassion and kindness, those who threaten the sanctity of family and marriage, people who would teach our children that chastity, virtue and fidelity are old fashion concepts to be mocked and treated with contempt, are endangering themselves along with all they lead. Those who will stand in defiance to God’s law, not simply breakers only, actively speaking ill of the ways of the Lord, will reap the bitter harvest of that which they sow.

Those who will stand in defiance to God’s law, not simply breakers only, actively speaking ill of the ways of the Lord, will reap the bitter harvest of that which they sow.

There is an answer to the crises and the curses that seem so prevalent in our day. The Lord has promised communities of those who will follow and lead in righteousness an abundance of blessings. “Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: And He will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: He will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness,…” (Deuteronomy 7:12-15).

The answer to our prayers and our hopes is living the laws which God has provided because of His abiding love for us. If we will but teach our children, share in respect and kindness with all those around the redeeming message of Christ, admonishing all to follow Him and keep His sayings, blessings will abound in our lives beyond our capacity to receive them. Wars will diminish, peace will be had in our streets, the poor will be fed, the home will be restored and preserved as a place of love and safety, and even the windows of heaven will be opened and rehydrate our parched drought ravished land. As recorded in Deuteronomy 11:13-14, the Lord promised, “And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.”

Let us walk in the ways of the Lord, choosing always to follow His paths keeping His commandments, and teach our children, as all we meet, to do the same. May we act in ways to be called of the Lord a holy people, chosen out to be a peculiar people unto Himself (Deuteronomy 14:2) bringing with us the children of our blessings and the friends of hearts. Oh blessed day that brotherly love and human kindness can reign above the envy and strife of men consuming all evil, suffering and sorrow in the joy of our Redeemer. In the name of He whose love is shown in His law, even Jesus Christ, amen.