Parents, Don’t Settle for Second Best
Parents, as a fellow parent, I know that you want the best for your children. I know that I do. I want my kids to have full, wonderful lives filled with love and laughter and adventure. I want them to follow their dreams and become all that God made them to be. I also want my children to know Jesus and to follow Him for their entire lives. I pray that they will grow in their faith and desire to live their lives in a way that is pleasing to Him.
I love that we go to church as a family. My kids get to hear wonderful sermons from the pulpit. These sermons are Biblically sound and relevant. They get to be involved in the children’s ministry. I know that when they go to Sunday school or youth group, they are learning from the Bible. They are having fun and fellowshipping with other kids.
However, even though there are wonderful programs, people, and activities going on at our church, it is still second best. God did not intend for our children to be taught and discipled solely by the church. He intended parents to be their children’s number one teacher.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 says, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Did you catch the part that says that you should be familiar with God’s Word?
That is our first task.
The second task is to teach God’s Word to our children. And this task should be done all the time. This is not just a Sunday morning—“sure, I’ll take them to church”—kind of thing. This is an “everyday talk about the Bible over Captain Crunch, prayer with them when they are struggling with homework, explanation to them why you are giving the Lord your sorrow over Aunt Mabel’s death” kind of a thing.
Don’t settle for second best! Be the Bible teacher that God made you to be.
If you don’t know how to do that, it’s OK. You are not alone. To help you, we have put together a family devotion book, focused on the names of Jesus to help you to dig into the Bible with your children. You can access this devotional book here and either download it or bookmark the page for future use.
We are also going to do some training on August 1 at 2:00pm on Zoom. Here is the link to the Zoom meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6025102906.
Parents, we want to help you in the discipleship of your children every step of the way. You are your child’s first-best teacher!
Carrie Larson