Friday is here, and so is my sister. This is the second part of this series; part I is here.
So grab your cup of tea and enjoy while you read.
The images on this post are also from Claire B.
Light meets our Daily Life...
His perfect light meets us even in the kitchen, over some muffins,
and a godly conversation with our children.
Teaching our kids God’s Word, is a great privilege which we often take for granted; many often figure that our children’s spiritual growth will come out from Sunday School and that as long as they are familiar with Bible stories (Noah’s Ark, Daniel in the lion’s den, Jonah, Adam and Eve, David and Goliath…) and have a favourite one, we are doing well. Oh! How little we value God’s Word! How little we treasure His law! And how little we fear His teachings!
If we could focus in teaching our kids God’s Word, read it reverently, and when we pray, pray focusing on what we are saying, studying faithfully, and asking Him to open our eyes and the eyes of our kids to understand what we read, to change our hearts, and to see Jesus Christ throughout the Bible as the only hope for us. Many read as a habit, routine or even as a hope that if I do all that I need to do, I’ll be good with God. Do we read to our kids, not just the story of Daniel as a cool story with lions in it with angels and a great miracle? But a story where we see God’s sovereign hand throughout the whole book, teaching us that God does as He pleases, and He bends the heart of whomever He wants to bend. We can see God’s character, God’s mercy, God’s providence, God’s wrath, God’s forgiveness… Much about God’s character is shown to us through each of these stories.
We see Jesus Christ, the promise the hope.
Why not teach our kids ALL about God? We are often afraid that they are too young and that they may not understand. But they understand! They need those truths now that they are young; they need to understand them now and anchor them in their hearts. We are obliged to do so if we profess to be Christian parents. They need to fear God and be wise. We need to teach them stories written in the Bible like the one in 2 Kings 2:23-25 to understand the dangers of mocking others. We need to teach them that Jonah, was not a fantasy story, but was real, the people he was asked by God to preach to, were sinners; and we can see God’s sovereignty, God’s judgement, God’s faithfulness, His patience, His love, His wrath! God does as He pleases! We can trust this God in the Bible and teach our kids, that they too can trust Him.
We need to show them who God is in everything we do and say. We need to be a witness of Christ inside our doors, before we are a witness to the world. We need to live Christianity in the secret of our house if we want our kids to follow Christ. If the world is more persuasive than their religion, they will follow. But when they know Christ, love His laws, know the doctrine to defend their faith; then Christ, His love and His forgiveness will be far more persuasive for them than any treasure the world may offer.
That is why, for as long as we are parents, we need to bring our kids to the cross, bring them to the knowledge of Him who died for them, explaining their need and dependence in Him. Forget for once about self-esteem and teach them to find their value in God alone, in that sovereign Lord who does as He pleases. They will know who you are talking about. They will know that Lord is in control of all and their souls can rest in Him. If they are good at something is because God made them good, therefore that must use that for God’s glory. If they lack abilities, also the Sovereign God gave them that so that they will not boast in themselves, but go to Him and ask.
We need to bring them to Christ, to the cross and to their need and absolute dependence on Him every day, every hour, every minute of the day.
May God give us grace to live our lives showing all that Christ is to our family.
Norma.
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Tomorrow, Claire B. will be here. She is the photographer, the eye and soul behind the camera on this week’s posts.
This blog entry can now be read at the new blog.
