Week 7: Raising Your Children

This chapter, Raising Your Children, has been one of the most near and dear to my heart of this entire book. For a moment this week we take a small focus away from our marriages and focus in on the fruit of our marriages...our children. At the very beginning of this chapter, Elizabeth discusses the verse Deuteronomy 6:6-7. It says, "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children."

In mediating this week over this verse, I realized that these words should not be taken lightly. In fact, teaching our children diligently is a commandment from God that He, Himself, said "shall be in our heart[s]." This verse indicates that training our children in the ways of the Christian faith is not a mere afterthought that we have at the end of a hard day. It is not something that we hope to do better at implementing...one day. It is not something that we think our children will just "get" because we take them to church and Bible School. Deut. 6:6-7 affirms from God that teaching our children about Him should be as constant as our hearts' beating. It means constantly and diligently teaching our little (and not so little) ones about His character. It means teaching them what the Bible has to say about living the life that Christ has called us into...a life of servitude! It means equipping our children with the spiritual armor necessary for this life of servitude so that they may face with strength and wisdom this culture of selfishness that surrounds us.

As parents, the knowledge of God must be so ingrained in our hearts so that the intentional teaching of His Character to our children can be wisely carried out! A few weeks ago, Bro. Scott preached a sermon about a child needing 10,000 hours of training in order for him/her to become an expert in the life of Christianity. He cited research documenting the training that professional athletes, musicians, scholars, etc. go though so that they are able to become experts their areas of concentration. At the minimum, these professionals trained for least 10,000 hours. Bro. Scott then compared this research to raising our children as Christians, asking us, as parents, if our children will be experts in the teachings of Christianity when they leave our homes! Pretty scary, isn't it...especially when most children in this society have hour upon hour of ungodly media influence penetrating into their little hearts!

So how as parents are we going to get these 10,000 hours of Biblical training into our children's lives?

One more thing before I close. The 10,000 hours of Biblical instruction are extremely important and should not be taken lightly; however, if we only train our children with facts and stories about the Bible without their seeing a real, daily relationship that we, as parents, have with our Heavenly Father, it will lead them to confusion and questioning. We want to help them create a faith and understanding that is like concrete in their hearts! We want to be able to show them the fruit of God blessings through the daily living of our lives. Bible stories, understanding the Trinity, and the road to salvation are all vital in our heartbeats as Christians, but knowledge without a relationship with Jesus is in vein. So let's, as Christian parents, build as many of these 10,000 hours sharing with our children about our own personal faith! Let our daily lives be the breathing testimony that our little ones see, showing them why Jesus is the most precious relationship they can ever possibly have!

For this week's blog assignment...what intentional things can we implement in our homes that will help our children get the 10,000 hours needed to become experts in Christianity?