How Far Are You From God

Deuteronomy 11:18-19---Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

The Jews took this quite literally. Even today at the Western Wall you can see them fix the Scripture Boxes (phylacteries) to their foreheads and wrap their arms. Almost every home has a Scripture container on the doorframe. There was a time in the USA when people included portions of Scripture in their daily conversation. The Bible was read daily by many, and many of our old expressions come from Scripture. That trend has all but died out. We rarely speak in the expressions of the Bible and are even mocked when we quote Scripture. That shouldn't bother us though. The word of God is powerful and living and will accomplish God's purposes. If we speak the Scripture that God lays on our heart during a conversation, it will surely do its work. For the Holy Spirit to bring it to memory, we should be reading it daily. We should be taking unhurried time to dwell on a passage. We should be memorizing it. Then it can be brought to our minds to be effective for us and for those with whom we communicate. We have a duty to model this for our children and teach them to do the same. The passage here is a good pointer for morning and evening devotions. The word should start and end our day. It should also be a topic during the day.