Impressions

Deuteronomy 6:5-8 “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

Did you ever notice your little one when they first woke up?  Maybe they slept with their face against a favorite toy or on a patterned pillow and the lines of the fabric shown on their little faces.  They looked funny and silly with wrinkles and lines embedded into their skin from pressing against that fabric.  And when we got down on the rug to play with them our knees pressed into the carpet. We had fun, only to get up and realize the pattern of the weave impressed on our knees.  Then there was the finger paint. Hands eagerly pressed into the paint and then pressed down onto the paper. The precious handprints were left behind, but the paint still clung to the skin and found its way into the cracks and crevices and under the fingernails. Despite washing up, the evidence of leaning into the paint was still present and visible. Oh, we can try and soothe the marks or scrub the paint away, but the impressions remain and they don’t fade quickly. 

It’s much the same in our spiritual lives. You see, the things we lean into or rest upon leave an impression. What we choose to spend time with marks us and it starts to mold us to it, whether good or bad.  Then others see the impact of our choices and where we’ve spent our time. The impressions don’t fade quickly. They remain for others to see.

Here’s a question for us as parents….What is it that we’re impressing on our children?  On our grown sons and daughters?  When they spend time with us, what is it that they carry away with them?   Can they see that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and strength?  Do they know that God’s word is so deeply impressed in our own hearts and minds that it marks us for everything else and that when anyone looks at us, they see the imprint of God on our lives?  Do our sons and daughters bear the marks of fellowship with the family of God when they leave us to go to their own home?

Friends, the more we look around us, the more we see the beginnings of the end.  We see wars and rumors of wars, we see people mocking God and living in lavish sin, openly and defiantly.  We see believers being harassed and persecuted.  We can’t be ‘fence sitters’ ; we must choose wisely and live intentionally.  What we’ve chosen to rest in and lean into will leave an impression on us for the world to see.  It will give evidence of which side we’ve chosen..  Is it leaving the impression of Christ or of the world? We can’t ‘do it later’. Time is running out. What example are we setting?

Oh friends, we spend a lot of time praying for our sons and daughters, as we should.  But let’s not neglect praying for ourselves and for other parents.  We need to stand with conviction and be an example of those who do not lean on their own understanding but trust in the Lord.  We need to set the standard for our sons and daughters and in our walk, our talk and our lives, exemplify that we love the Lord our God with all of our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength. We will not compromise.  We will not ‘talk the talk’ yet bear the impression of the world on our faces…and our hearts.  How will our sons and daughters follow?  Will they choose the impression of Christ or of the world? 

“Father, Today I choose You.  I choose to follow You, obey Your Word and live my life in a way that gives evidence to those around me that You are my Lord and Savior.  I pray today that You would help me to “Trust in the Lord with all [my] heart and do not lean on [my] own understanding.” (Prov. 3:5)  I pray for other parents today that You would strengthen them to stand firm.  Lord, help each of us to impress Your commandments on our children.  Let our conversations be pleasing to You and edifying to those who hear.  Lord, let Your Word and Your Truth be what is impressed on each of our hearts and lives so that when others see us, they see the marks of Jesus.  Keep us safe and unharmed by this world.  Keep us from sin and from oppression by the enemy.  I know that Satan would love nothing more than to destroy believers’ testimonies and disrupt families.  Guard us Lord so that we can be salt and light in this world.  Raise up the next generation to follow after You with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength.  May Jesus be glorified.  In His name I pray, amen.”

Pray without ceasing.