The sons and grandsons of Ulam numbered 150 in all. That's a lot. And they had the reputation of being brave warriors and really good shooters. I‘m trying to envision a bunch of these men getting together and shooting their bow and practicing and doing it as a family. I‘m envisioning the older teaching the younger and the really younger one's getting excited for the day they get to shoot.
Such thoughts take me back to memory lane of hunting with a shotgun or rifle with my family. It was something we did as a family. We had my dad and two uncles and other family members including cousins. I remember me and my twin brother going at a young age and staying close behind my dad. We weren't old enough to hunt but we sure looked forward to it. We'd have well over 12 guys hunting during deer season. I grew up with that and I learned a lot about hunting by watching and listening. Some were good things and some were not. When it came time for me to go hunting I wanted so bad to shoot a buck. At age 13 a buck came out standing broadside. Of all the things I learned from watching my family hunt, no one ever told me about the kill zone on a deer. I remember putting the crosshairs of my scope on the center of the deer and shooting. It was a gut shot. I eventually got the deer but I could have gotten it so much quicker if someone would have taught me about the kill zone. So when my daughters were old enough to hunt, I taught them all about the kill zone. I showed them pictures in magazines and went over and over and over again about the kill zone.
It's funny what we pass on with our kids. Some of my family members were good mentors by their actions. Other family members were not good because they loved to break the law when hunting. I still think how weird it is out of all that I learned nobody mentored me about the kill zone. it was one of the most important things to know in successfully killing a deer.
That's hunting. But what about a walk with Christ. Of all my family members, I can't think of one that was truly committed to Christ and was all about role modeling and teaching me what it meant to walk with Christ. My parents occasionally went to church but I had no real teaching from the Bible at home. But Christ got a hold of my life and I wanted to role model a committed walk with Christ with those around me but especially my two daughters. I didn't want to look back with regrets nor did I want my daughters to look back with regrets and wonder why their dad never modeled a walk with Christ and wonder why I never told them about Jesus. Just like nobody told me about the kill zone, which seems ridiculous, but oh how so much more ridiculous when we let our kids see us go to church but we never tell about how to really walk a committed life with Jesus. I don't want to face death with regrets. I want to teach, role model, encourage, mentor a walk with Christ with my family and those around me. I want no regrets. I want to hear on judgement Day from my heavenly father, “Well done my good and faithful servant!”
Pastor Blair’s comments made me think of two Bible passages today.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 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. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Mark 7:6-8
And He (Jesus) said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
I’ve heard it said before that more is remembered and applied by what is caught rather than what is taught. This could be either positive or negative depending on what it is that’s being caught. I could try to teach something to my children, but if I’m not living it out myself, then how could I expect them to live it? How could we expect someone to receive something from us if we don’t actually have it to give? The next question is whether we are teaching the commandment of God or the tradition of men? God isn’t interested in us having a lipservice religion, but instead He wants us to have a personal relationship with Him. May our hearts be close to Jesus as we continue to grow in our walk with Him and share His love with others.