Deuteronomy 4:9 “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”

God’s commands have value for our future. But you know how easy it is to sort of loosen up and take things less seriously with time. You know how with your first child you try to create an absolutely sterile environment, but by the time you get to your third or fourth you let them eat food off the floor and clean their binky by sticking it in your own mouth? You know how when you first make a recipe you measure everything precisely, but after a while you sort of eye it up and substitute ingredients for something that’s close? I once made macaroni and cheese by substituting ice cream for the milk. Don’t judge me. It worked.

The Lord doesn’t want us to let the same things happen with his commands. “Do not…let them slip from your heart as long as you live,” Moses says. Their value, their impact, their importance doesn’t get old, even if we do.

And don’t neglect to pass them along to the generations to come. “Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” Why mess up their lives? Why hold out on them? With money, Dave Ramsey talks about “changing your family tree” by teaching your children to use it better than you did. But with God’s commands, why “change the family tree” when you can keep a good one going. It doesn’t matter that your children are a new generation. Teach them what’s right. God’s commands will be worth keeping for as far as the future goes.

If you ever visit the state of Arizona, you should know that it is against the law to let your donkey sleep in the bathtub. I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble. That’s been the law of that state since 1924, but my guess is that the reasons for it have come and gone, and you can safely forget that little piece of legal trivia as soon as you leave here today.

God’s laws haven’t lost their value. They are the guide to a life that works, the basis for a good witness to others, an inheritance for our children’s children, and worth putting into practice today.