When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. – Deuteronomy 18:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 17, 2012): Deuteronomy 18

As we raise our kids, I think we are torn between a great hope and a great fear. We start off with all of the hopes that our kids will be the ones that will change the world. We have all of the hopes of the things that our child might become. Maybe they will be the politician that will finally be able to create world peace, or maybe the doctor that finds the cure to cancer, or the physicist that finds a way to go faster than the speed of light, or even the author of the great novel - or maybe nothing quite that grand. But we all have a great hope – and our hope is that our children will be influencers. We hope that they will create a change for the better everywhere that they go.

But the great hope is directly related to our great fear. The great fear is not that our kids will not achieve amazing things – deep down I do not think we really care. Rather, the great fear is that our kids will be followers; that they will be influenced by those around them – and not for the better. Our great fear is that they will be negatively influenced by the people around them. It is the reason why we want to know the friends that they hang out with. When they are young it is the great hope that drives us. But the older they get, the more the great fear takes over the driving seat rather than the great hope.

Israel were God’s children. And in the beginning it is the great hope that reigns. God challenges Abraham that he will be blessed so that he could bless the world. The idea was that Israel would have a positive influence on everyone that they came in contact with. And sometimes that is exactly what happens. But as Israel grew older; the great fear became the great reality. Rather than being the influencers, they became the influenced. 

  

So, before they entered the land that God was going to give to them, Moses once more addresses the great fear. Do not be influenced by the people that you will find in your new home. Rather, influence the people of the land for the better.

A lot of the violence that God seems to perpetrate on the people of Canaan – and a lot of the violence that we wish we could perpetrate on some of the friends of our children – is because of the great fear has taken root in our personalities. But in the end, it will be the great hope that will change the world.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 19

Note: The VantagePoint Sermon "Should I Stay or Should I Go" from the series "The Road" is now available on the VantagePoint Website. Craig Traynor is speaking. You can find it here - http://www.vantagepointcc.org/The_Road___Should_I_Stay_ot_Should_I_Go.htm