This year, in the month of April, it’ll be my son, Manny’s fourth birthday, wow…

Before our adorable son was born, my wife and I made the decision that Manny would learn English as his first language, so now he is the one that teaches English to us. There’s a conversation he and I have quite often:

Me: Manny, listen to me, you are not listening…
Manny: But I want to listen
Me: But listen to me, you are not listening
Manny: But I want to listen…

It’s something that repeats day after day after day.

I see myself in the mirror and I see what I am. I see Manny and many times I see myself in him. I listen to him and I can hear myself. It scares me sometimes, I don’t want my son to be like me, I want him to be much better than me in all aspects. What father doesn’t want that?

The word “listen” comes from the Hebrew word “Shama`”; a primitive root; to hear intelligently, attentively, carefully, obedience, discern, give ear, hear, listen, declare.

Nowadays we speak of discipleship, the spiritual formation of what we want to be to become. You could agree or disagree. I think that…discipleship and spiritual formation begin with listening to God first and obeying Him. It sounds ironic, but we want our children to obey us when as children of God we ourselves don’t listen or obey Him.

Discipleship and spiritual formation begin in our families. The scriptures of the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy 6:1-9 say;

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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 in 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. Tie them as symbol on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

The majority of the time we expect our children’s spiritual education, or even our own spiritual education, to begin at church. We go to our bible classes and hear but don’t listen. We want to listen, well, sometimes! Truth is, we don’t fully grasp our promises and blessings from God when we don’t listen as God asks us to do so.

Jesus, in the New Testament says on Mark 12:30-31, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength’. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

The love in this passage is not only a feeling, it’s a reaction to what is written in Deuteronomy 6:4, that love must be manifested with our whole beings, a total surrender.

Then let’s do discipleship and spiritual formation, starting with ourselves and in our home. Let’s memorize these scriptures and teach our children and the children of our children continuously, taking advantage of every opportunity we get and let us not lose the blessings and promises that God gives us.

“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”