David Platt was putting his 10 year old son to bed. Earlier that day they had been to a football game. The game was so fun and exciting! But he shared with his dad that he was afraid that he might get more excited about a game than winning souls for Christ. So he asked his dad to pray for him thathe would not lose perspective of what truly mattered. 

Whoa! He’s 10 years old. I’m 36 and I lose perspective every day. Talk about convicting. And if that wasn’t convicting enough–what about his dad? David Platt is a man who is down to business about discipling his kids.

I went to Atlanta a while back for a women’s conference. The Lord opened the door for me to go last minute. I was so excited! I prayed all weekend for a specific word from the Lord. I was hoping for that breakthrough groundbreaking word. I could just picture it. Doors in a great ministry flying open. The red carpet laid out before me.

Nope. Not even close.

Instead, I went all the way to Atlanta for the Lord to show me that my main ministry was back at home. My home. Loving and honoring my husband. Discipling my daughter. It’s a lesson He’s been trying to teach me for a while now.

I’m a slow learner.

I just haven’t been able to shake that David Platt story. I need a renewed perspective when it comes to things of eternal importance like my ministry of discipling my daughter.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9 is a great passage on discipleship.

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 (v.5-6). 

The most important commandment God gave us is to love Him with all of our hearts. God wants to be the most important thing in our lives. If we want our children to love God, we must love God. We are their role models. Kids tend to love what their parents love. Our passion will be their passion. So how do we love God with all our hearts? We spend time with Him in prayer and in His Word.

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 (v.7). 

The Lord wants to be included in everything we do. He wants to be the topic of conversation throughout our daily activities. He doesn’t want to be segmented to one part of our day–or one day a week (like church on Sunday). The Lord wants to be included in everything we do. Whether we are hanging out at the house, walking (or driving) down the road, going to bed, or getting up in the morning, He wants to be a part of it all.

Tie them as symbols on your hands (v.8) 

I believe God wants us to keep Him close. Real close. It’s interesting that the verse encourages us to tie God’s commandments as symbols on our hands. Ann Voskamp draws a cross on her wrist every morning to remind her to die to herself and live for Christ. Our hands do many things throughout the day. We work with our hands. We touch things. We touch people. Our hands can pick up good things or bad. What beautiful symbolism of God’s truth being tied to our hands before we reach out and take hold of something. As the song says, “Oh be careful little hands what you do…”

and bind them on your foreheads (v.8).

Foreheads. What an interesting place to bind scripture! The forehead contains the mind, and the mind is where we do our thinking. The mind is also where we fight our battles. Truth isn’t supposed to be a temporary pop up sign on our foreheads. We are told to bind it there. Binding is like tying a knot. Truth should take up permanent residence in our minds. Again, the Lord wants us to keep Him close. I wonder. How might our thinking be different if God’s Word was bound to our thought life? Proverbs 4:23 (NCV) says, “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.”Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates (v.9).

Door frames and gates are entry areas to homes. What kinds of statements do our homes declare? We might not have actual literal verses written on our door frames, but every home has a culture. Every home has an atmosphere. When people enter our homes, what do they sense? What kind of atmosphere do they walk into? Do they enter a home where the presence of God clearly abides? A home grounded in truth where the Lord is lifted up and glorified? May we determine like Joshua, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

Honestly, I’m no where near where I want to be as a wife, momma, or Christian for that matter.  Like David Platt’s son shared, I get caught up in the world and quickly lose perspective of what truly matters. I fall short every single day. But I am so thankful for a God who gives me a fresh start each day. The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

And you know what’s cool? God is giving me a renewed perspective on ministry. I’m realizing that God HAS opened incredible doors of ministry for me–right here in my home. The red carpet IS laid out before me and I’m walking down it YO (so what if it’s red because it’s stained with Kool-Aid)! 😉

It really is all about perspective.

God’s perspective!