1 Introduction
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INTRODUCTION 1 © 2020 Christian Parenting. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan. comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .......................................................... 1 Love God with all your heart: What we are ........ 11 Love God with all your soul: Who we are ........... 25 Love God with all your mind: Why we are ......... 39 Love God with all your strength: Where we are .... 55 Live marked ........................................................ 69 About Pardon The Mess ..................................... 72 About Cynthia Yanof ............................................. 75 THE GOAT A 4-Week Family Challenge to Live Out the Greatest Commandment of All Time You know what a GOAT is, don’t you? When something or someone is a GOAT, it’s the Greatest Of All Time. A few GOATs of mine: • Greatest 80s band of all time: U2 • Greatest ROMCOM (romantic comedy, keep up people) of all time: Sleepless in Seattle • Greatest NFL team of all time: Obviously the Dallas Cowboys What does GOAT have to do with walking with God? We’ll get to that, but can we agree we’ve all wished at times there were a way to break down all the stuff in the Bible into one digestible principle or rule that tells us the secret sauce for living for Jesus? A GOAT commandment, if you will? Turns out, there’s a verse for that. Remember that time a lawyer in the Bible tried to trick Jesus by asking him to name the greatest commandment? And Jesus, savvy to the antics of this jokester, responded with one of the most familiar and powerful passages in the entire Bible. Jesus told him the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Maybe it’s because I used to be a lawyer (and I’m married to a lawyer) that I’ve always been intrigued by the question this man asked—and even more interested in Jesus’s answer. Why ask this particular question if you’re trying to trip up Jesus? And how does Jesus’s response impact my own life, if at all? Although the Pharisee’s question may have come from a place of questionable motives (opinions vary on that, by the way), can we be honest? Figuring out how Scripture applies to our everyday lives can be hard sometimes. Sure, “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16), but how it applies to my life and what I should be doing differently because of it can sometimes get muddy. What matters? What doesn’t? What does God really want from me and for me? And how do we impart this to our kids? We’ll get back to that. LOTS OF COMMANDMENTS AND THE SHEMA There’s a little bit of background that helps explain the context behind the question thrown at Jesus. INTRODUCTION 2 In Jesus’s time, the Pharisees had identified 613 commandments in the laws: 248 positive commandments and 365 negative. Since it was virtually impossible to know and follow all 613 commandments, the Pharisees categorized the commandments into two categories: more important and less important. Way to be practical, my good Pharisees. Ranking the commandments and debating which one was the most important was not a new one among the Pharisees, but they were simply bringing Jesus into the discussion in an effort to set him up. So, the story goes, the Pharisees asked Jesus to pick the GOAT commandment. And Jesus responded with “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” This was not something he just threw out there for the first time, hoping to appease the masses because he was under pressure. No, as always, Jesus’s response was thoughtful and significant, quoting the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4–9. The Shema is one of the most important and well-known prayers in the Bible. Jesus would have memorized it at the earliest age and repeated it often. Orthodox Jews still memorize this statement of faith today, teaching it to their kids almost as early as they can talk. (Which is really remarkable since my kids basically came out of the womb making demands, not quoting Scripture. But I digress.) INTRODUCTION 3 But do you know what really stops me in my tracks? Take a gander at the verses that come right after the GOAT commandment: “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” (Deuteronomy 6:6–8). We’re told that loving God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind is something we should be teaching our kids in the morning, at night, and all the time! I’m just not sure anywhere else in Scripture where we are so obviously instructed on what really matters when it comes to raising our children. JUST DO IT (I SHOULD COIN THAT PHRASE) Those verses right there are the reason we’re going to focus on one passage of Scripture so intentionally. If God said it, Moses relayed it, and Jesus reaffirmed it . then we better stop and consider it. You with me? So there you have it. That’s the gist of what we’re going to focus on for the next thirty days and the whole premise behind our GOAT Challenge. We’re INTRODUCTION 4 going to put a little bit of action behind our beliefs and really dig in and “just do it” when it comes to obeying the words of Jesus. But why a challenge versus just a Bible study or daily devotional? Glad you asked. My family is the most competitive family you probably know—except for me, who lacks in competitive-ism (assuming that’s a word), primarily because I lack any sort of real skills. I literally can barely walk and then God somehow puts me smack-dab in the middle of a bunch of overly competitive, athletic sports junkies. Me and Jesus are gonna chat about that someday. These people in my house want to be the first, the best, the fastest, and the greatest. And it’s not limited to sports, board games, and the normal ways one might find it appropriate to compete. Nope, every single thing presents an opportunity for these maroons to compete: emptying the dishwasher, racing to the car at Costco, drinking a Gatorade, the time it takes to shower—I could go on but won’t. I don’t know if your family is like mine when it comes to a challenge (for your sake, I hope not); however, I do know that our kids are more likely to participate and join in when we make things fun, interactive, and perhaps even healthily competitive. So, instead of a quick Bible study or traditional devotional, let’s put legs to this and make it a fun challenge that grows our families together, and, even more importantly, grows us toward Jesus while we do it. INTRODUCTION 5 As that great motivational speaker Ricky Bobby once said, “If you ain’t first, you’re last.” So, here’s a little lay of the land for this thirty- day challenge. Each week for the next month, we’ll focus on one of the following aspects of the GOAT commandment: • Week 1: Love the Lord your God with all your heart: What we are • Week 2: Love the Lord your God with all your soul: Who we are • Week 3: Love the Lord your God with all your mind: Why we are • Week 4: Love the Lord your God with all your strength: Where we are Each week, you’ll read a few pages on the chosen topic as a way to equip you (the parent) for the week ahead. You’re more than welcome to read my commentary to your kids, but that’s not my primary intention. It’s more likely that if you’re challenged and motivated to teach your kids, they will learn it best from you rather than reading someone else’s words. But more than just trying to “teach” something, we want it to be fun and significant. So, we have given you suggested weekly challenges to try with your family. This is not meant to be overwhelming or a list of things you have to add to your already busy days. But it’s just an opportunity to find a few ways to INTRODUCTION 6 put our faith into action and have some fun with the kids while doing it. Take it, leave it, add to it, subtract from it—totally your call.