Is there a little tefillin leather box on your forehead

Deuteronomy 11:18-21
“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.”

For centuries observant Jews have tied verses of the Bible on their hands and foreheads by placing them in little leather boxes, called tefillin, and then securing them with leather cords. Many Christians have pictures and plaques with Bible verses hanging on their walls or setting on bookshelves. The words of Joshua, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” might greet visitors in the foyer, while the words of the Psalm, “O give thanks unto the Lord,” look down upon those seated around the dinner table.

It’s good for us to keep God’s Word before our eyes. However, we must be careful that we don’t just keep these words on the surface of our walls or on the surface of our hearts. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). God wants us to fix his Word in our hearts and minds, so that it produces love and obedience in our lives.

Through his Word, God reminded the Israelites of all that he had done to rescue them from slavery in Egypt and set them apart as his people. The Word of God reminds us of all that God has done to rescue us through the perfect life of his Son and his innocent death on the cross. The Israelites remembered how God saved them from death in the Red Sea. We know how God has saved us from death by connecting us with the death and resurrection of Jesus. This grace moves us to love the Lord and to follow his commands – to fix his Word on our hearts and teach it to our children.

Some people can’t go anywhere without their cell phone. If they forget it, they will turn around and drive miles to get it. They just don’t feel quite right without it. God wants his Word to be like that for us. He wants us to fix it on our hearts and minds, to teach it to our children, and to talk about it throughout the day. He wants it to be something that we can’t go without. Why? So that we can know his love better and live as his people.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Help me to fix your Word in my heart, so that I may see your love more clearly and live my life by its guidance.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.