Teach your children about God

As I begin this last article in the 6-part series, I am reminded of a song recorded by George Strait. That song is “I Saw God Today.” He brought home some wonderful memories of the births of our three children. When each of our children came into this world I truly believed that he was in the presence of God. There is no feeling that can compare to that first look at your new child.

Shortly after this miraculous event, the reality of our responsibility as parents begins to set in. We as parents are now accountable not only to our child but also to our God to raise him as God wants us to. Our number one priority now is to teach our children about God.

Never before has the younger generation had a greater need for knowledge about God and His law than in today’s society. Morality is at its lowest point. God is being kicked out of our schools and out of our government. What kind of world would our children face when they became adults? We wanted our children to be strong in their faith. We knew that the only successful way to do this was to teach our children about God.

As new parents, we had to develop a plan. A plan that we knew we could follow with perseverance and discipline. A plan that kept us constantly aware that our words and actions were examples for our son to follow. We realized that we did not need to follow our plan, but to follow God’s plan. Teaching our children about God can only be accomplished by following God’s plan.

Two questions needed to be answered to prepare us to teach our children about God:

1. What is our purpose in life?
2. Why did God create us?

When we look around us we see many examples of creatures other than humans and we basically know what their purpose is. For example, what is God’s purpose for animals? The Bible tells us that every creature that God created has a purpose: horses, cows, sheep, chickens, fish, dogs, cats, etc. Each has its own purpose, whether it’s supplying power to perform a task; provide food for humans, or be their pleasure and company; everyone has their own purpose for being here.

So what is the purpose of being human? Why did God create man? Once again, we go to the Bible to find the answer. Genesis 1:26, 27: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over every animal that creeps on the ground. And God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God he created him; male and female created he them.”

We were created by God to be like Him. 1 John 1:1, 2: “Behold what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are the children of God, and what we shall be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is “.

God gave man fantastic resources and powers for one purpose: to control, channel, and use those resources to develop Godlike character. The character to make correct decisions that produce happiness in our lives. As parents, we must begin at the earliest point in our children’s lives to teach them to develop Godlike character. How early? Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

We began the first day by reading the scriptures in the presence of our newborn son. Could they understand what we were reading? Of course not, but the point is that we were establishing a habit that would continue throughout our son’s life in our home.

As our children grew and reached an age where they began to understand and ask questions, they never asked us why we read the Bible every day. It was understood that part of the daily family routine was to read the scriptures. As our children develop the ability to read, we encourage them to actively participate in daily scripture readings. The discussion always followed the reading of the Scriptures. We didn’t want our kids to feel like they were being lectured daily, so we incorporated their participation into the discussions. We encourage you to ask questions. We would also ask them questions to give them the opportunity to express their developing beliefs.

One of our favorite answers to our children’s questions as they reached school age and adolescence was “What does the Bible say about it?” It’s amazing how the Bible is able to answer every question you can ask yourself about life and what our purpose is on this planet. There were many times when our children asked a question that we had to “submit for further investigation,” which meant that we asked our minister.

As parents, we believed that our daily Bible reading and discussion sessions helped our children deal with many potentially harmful temptations that other children fell victim to. We were blessed that our children knew that they could ask us any question at any time on any subject without fear of receiving a negative reaction.

We teach our children to pray.

Before each meal we had a prayer of thanksgiving for our blessings. When our children could, we took turns saying the mealtime prayer. When our children were young, we prayed with them before they went to sleep. As they got older, we watched them pray and then left them alone to pray. We wanted our children to pray in a way similar to talking to a friend. We wanted them to understand that God was truly their friend.

Now that our children have grown up and are raising Christian children of their own, we are so grateful for the time we spend teaching our children about God.

Many years ago I came across this short paragraph. I wish I knew the author, but I don’t. We printed it out and put it in a frame that still sits on my desk. It is simply titled: What is a child?

What is a child?
More than anything else, a child is a bundle of potential.
But that potential must be cultivated, nurtured, and guided.
Unfortunately, most parents have not been taught
how to give their children the right training and environment.
How can you be sure you are giving your child the
best possible foundation for a successful life?

Hopefully, this series of articles will encourage you to discover how you, as a parent, can be sure that you are giving your child the best possible foundation for a successful life. Teach your children about God.

Thank you and God bless you and your family!