The childhood years fly by so quickly and the window of time that we have to imprint on their impressionable minds the knowledge of God and His plan of Salvation is very, very narrow. As such, what do we emphasise in our Bible Time with our children?
Mom, if you knew you could have a deep and meaningful impact on your child's walk with God well into adulthood, what do you hope his relationship with God would look like? For me, I hope my children would be saved, know and love God, walk in obedience to His will. And that, practically speaking, would translate into good character demonstrated in his work and daily life.
I've been thinking some about bible "programmes" for our young children (12 and below). Some moms grapple with this: what do I teach? Would I teach my 9 Yr old about the history of church denominations or bible translations? In passing, I would, just to give a hint to the child that there actually is such a thing... but not as a main stay.
As a Christian homeschool mom, I don't actually follow any curriculum for bible time with my children. We open the King James bible and teach from it.
Here I share the common themes I find myself gravitating to when I teach them, whichever the passage:
1) Who God is, the Love of God, His desire for all of us to be saved and walking in His will.
2) Good Character
3) how to apply Christian living in this world we live in.
See? It can be found here in Colossians where Paul talks about his heart's desire for the precious young church at Colosse to grow:
Colossians 1:9-11 KJV — "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;"
Bible Time is not about "academic head knowledge", though knowledge about Biblical facts is important. Don't treat it like a comprehension passage and make the children go through the passage and "answer the following questions".
Bible Time needs to be PRACTICAL for daily living. By all means, we need to skilfully bring the point of the lesson to the child's level where they can understand and mostly importantly, do what they are learning about God.
When our children are older and they face temptations presented by the World, battles that are within their own sinful flesh, key bible verses/passages that have been memorised will help them to have the power to do what is pleasing to God.
One very practical issue is dating and how to find a wife/husband. Long before they are of age, I would begin to plant in my children the joy of setting up a godly family, the joy of having a spouse who walks in the same direction as themselves. (as according to 2 Corinthians 6:14.)
Right now, my husband and I have heart to heart talks with our older teens (young adults) about having the patience to wait for the right partner who displays the necessary qualities of godliness. In a time when it is so much easier for them to just follow the crowd and follow their heart, I'm glad that the years of planting God's word and God's ways in our children's hearts when they were young have become a firm guiding principle in how they should conduct themselves in matters regarding dating, courtship and marriage. It saves them so much heartache and scars!
So, when you start from the end goal (adulthood) and work backwards to what we should teach at childhood, I feel it should all come back to knowing God, having a relationship with Him and developing the right set of values and character that the child will make habitual. The time we have with them is very short and we need to prioritise what we teach in the bible!
Please feel free to share you thoughts on this matter that we may all benefit from different perspectives!
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