“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.’” Deuteronomy 6:20-21
As you live with one consuming passion for the Lord, your life will provoke questions. It will need explaining.
Here are fathers and mothers who live in such a way that their children are asking, “Why do you have this deep passion for God?”
Christopher Wright comments that it would be easy for parents to jump from the question, “Why do we keep these laws?” (6:20) to the answer, “Because the Lord commanded us” (6:24). But before we get to the Lord who commanded us, we have the Lord who delivered us (6:21-23).
When the children ask a question about the law, they are answered with the old story of God and his amazing love: “We were slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out with a mighty hand. If it wasn’t for the Lord , I would still be a slave. But he redeemed me. And not only has he redeemed me from past slavery, he has promised me the future inheritance of his Promised Land.” Wright says, “The meaning of the law is to be found in the gospel.”
So when your children ask you these questions, tell them what the Lord has done for you. Tell them what the Lord means to you. Tell them that the Son of God loved you and gave himself for you, and how everything you have is from him.
Respond to the statement: “I’m passionate about keeping God’s laws, because the Lord has commanded us to keep them.”
