We had a wonderful service at our church last evening. Our guest speaker, preached from Joshua 4. We were challenged to put up some reminders or lasting testaments to God's working in our lives. Joshua commanded the children of Israel to take 12 stones, one from each tribe for a rememberance of what God had done. Joshua 4:6,7-That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.
The fact is, our children will and do have questions about why we go to church, why do we read our Bible, why do we serve God. They may ask do we have to give in the offering, etc. We as parents must be ready to answer them with thoughtful answers. If we merely dismiss their questions as unimportant or assume they are being disrespectful we fail to do as we ought. As our children grow they must develop a PERSONAL relationship with Jesus Christ and I mean far beyond the point of salvation! Truly it ought be every parent's desire to see their children accept Christ's gift of salvation, but we will fail as parents if we do not encourage and help foster a long-lasting relationship between our children and the Lord. Far too many older teens or college age people are dropping out of church and becoming involved in ungodly things. Many times this "failure to thrive" in church is because it is not personal to them. As a pastor's wife this grieves me. I hate to see young adults drop out!!! We as a church are working hard to minister to this age group. It can be such a challenging time. However, as a mom, it scares me. I constantly ask myself what can I do to "transfer my faith" if you will. At some point I know it comes down to each of my boys and their relationship with the Lord. Until that time, while they are under my roof and influence, my husband and I strive to point them to the "stones" of our faith!
We try to live out a genuine faith, not just put on a church face as we head out of the door on Sunday. We have Scripture hanging in a few places in our home. We listen to Godly music we hope will penetrate their hearts. We memorize Scripture together. We attend church together. We serve the Lord together at our church. We spend time in daily life talking, listening, and answering questions. We pray as a family and try to be quick to give God thanks for answered prayers. We share our testimonies with them. We encourage them to have a daily quiet time with the Lord and maybe more importantly we try to model that for them.
I am always trying to find new and more ways to encourage my boys. What are some things that your family does to point your children to the "stones" of your faith?
I love that passage in Joshua. I have thought many times of maybe doing something sort of literal with it. We have talked about maybe writing down specific answers to prayer along with the date on stones and making a rock garden or if they were small stones putting them in something pretty like an apothecary jar and then reading through them as a family on Thanksgiving or some other special day. My boys aren't quite old enough yet, so I am still figuring it out. Like you I want my boys to recognize God in every part of their lives so that when they leave it is truly their faith (not their parent's) and they take that close relationship with them.
ReplyDeleteI think teaching doctrine is a big part of it. We have went through catechisms at times and try to read a lot (independently and as a family) focusing in on God-centered resources and not just moral helps. I also like the idea of having kids in at least one (although I could see the benefit of even more)of the worship services. I know that there is a need for them to learn at their level at times, but I think it is great too for them to experience corporate worship with people of all ages and for that to become normal instead of a lot of excitement and games. I think sometimes kids get through the youth group and regular church just seems boring because they have never really learned what they believe or like you said, became personal to them. My kids are still young though...I may have a totally new perspective in another 5 years!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I love Josh. 4. Visiting from Kelly's. Nice to meet you.
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