“Fix” only has three letters, but we use the word in many settings and contexts. We fix breakfast. We fix a loose cabinet handle, a misspelled word, or a missing button. We fix our eyes on the sunset. And, for those of us who live in the South, we even use it describe what we are thinking about doing: I’m fixin’ to fix breakfast.
Mr. Webster provides shades and nuances for understanding the little word, fix:
: AFFIX, ATTACH
: to set or place definitely
: ESTABLISH
Our Creator used the word fix in Deuteronomy 11:18-19. instructs us on what to do with His Word:
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.
Is God’s Word fixed in your heart and mind? Is it attached, set, and established there?
God instructs us to:
- Fix His words in our hearts and minds.
- Tie them as symbols on our hands and bind them on our foreheads.
- Teach them to our children.
Our hearts and our minds control our thoughts, attitudes, actions, motivations, and behaviors. If our hearts and minds are saturated with the Word of God, it will naturally flow forth to impact every part of our lives and those around us.
While some take the phrase about symbols literally — as in the Jewish practice of rolling and tying written scriptures on the wrist and forehead — most believers embrace a more figurative interpretation. One certainly would not forget something that is tied to the wrist or put on the forehead.
Perhaps it also suggests that if God’s Word is on our foreheads, it will shine forth and light our way and if it’s on our hands, it colors every act of love and kindness extended to others. Seeing it this way prompts me to pray that others see Jesus in the steps I make, and the actions I take.
The final instruction in the passage is to teach God’s word. Note the order here. We must first own it ourselves before we can hope to teach it to our children.
Note also that God even provides the proper pedagogy for doing the teaching: it’s on-the-job training or as-you-go teaching.
This method is both lifestyle and lecture. It is as you go (at home and on the road) and it’s all day long (when you lie down and rise up). You teach it by speaking it and by doing it.
Christianity is always one generation away from extinction. We must be faithful. Truth has never perished from the Earth. There has always been a remnant in existence to share with the next generation. And it must not stop on our watch!
It may be your own children or grandchildren. Perhaps it’s the young adults living next door. Maybe it’s a niece, nephew, or even young ones at your church. Whoever God has brought into your life to teach, I urge you to love them enough to fix God’s Word on your heart and mind first, so that you are ready to teach them (and model to them) the Word of God.
Laura’s latest teaching video features insights on how the words of I Kings 8:35-36 — part of King Solomon’s prayer as he dedicated the Temple — applies to modern-day living. We hope you’ll take a few moments to listen!
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