Sometimes you’ll hear people say, “Keep a balance—have time for ministry and time for your family.” Balance sounds good, but it’s surprisingly unhelpful. If God and your family have to be kept in balance, it means they’re on opposite sides of the scale. I don’t want my family to weigh against the Lord; I want them to weigh for Him.
Moses tells us how to achieve alignment...
a. Your own heart “These commandments… are to be on your heart.” (6:6)
Love the Lord with all your heart. Begin with your own heart.
b. Your family conversation “Talk about them when you sit at home…” (6:7)
Don’t let your love for the Lord, your work for the Lord or your giving to the Lord be a private thing. Open your heart and let your family see the passion that drives you. Why you love the Lord and what it means to live for Him is to pervade everything.
c. Your example “Tie them as symbols on your hands.” (6:8)
Let this love for the Lord that is in your heart, and in your family conversation, be put into practice. If you want to align a family around a single passion for the Lord, you have to step out and lead by example yourself. Don’t just talk about it. You have to do it.
d. Your family life “Write them on the door frames of your houses...” (Deuteronomy 6:9)
Bring your children into this great consuming passion; help them feel part of it. My father worked two jobs, served on the church board, taught Sunday school and edited and produced a church magazine—a family production line—typed by my mother and duplicated, collated and stapled by our whole family on Friday nights.
People sometimes ask me, “How do you protect your children from the pressures of ministry?” They have received immeasurable benefits from their exposure to ministry—people they’ve met, experiences they’ve enjoyed and life lessons they’ve learned.
