There are tons of books out there ready to be cracked open to give advice about raising kids. You’ve seen them piled high on the shelves at the bookstore: How To Have a New Kid By Friday, How To Talk So Your Kids Will Listen, Positive Discipline, just to name a few! I am sure these are all helpful, but if you have kids or spend any amount of time working with them, you know that there is no ‘one size fits all’ method for raising children; kids are all so unique and each have their own personalities, quarks and gifts. And, the book that might help you understand and parent little Johnny, might not give any worthy advice to assist you with Sally and her attitude! Most parents would desire to raise their children to be successful, kind, smart, and well-liked. I mean, these things sound great to me! I think even most Christian parents would agree that they would love to see their kids achieve and succeed in these things in life. But, as a Christian, those four things, although important, are not the goal of Christian parenting. The goal of Christian parenting is discipleship: to raise your kids to know, love and serve God.
There might be no ‘one size fits all’ book for raising a child, nor is there one book that will teach you how to lead every child in checking off all the boxes required to become a well rounded human. Every child, situation, and parent are different. But, there is a ‘one size fits all’ book for raising up little disciples. An ancient Book written by an all-knowing God with Words and Wisdom that transcend time; that book is God’s Word: The Bible.
AN AVOIDABLE PANDEMIC: BIBLE ILLITERACY
I am a Children’s Pastor, and it amazes me the amount of kids that I teach on a Sunday morning that don’t bother to bring their Bible to Church. So, this past year I decided that just merely ‘asking’ the kids to bring their Bibles wasn’t working. I had to come up with a new method. My method was quite simple, really. I will let you in on this delicious and effective five letter secret for getting kids to bring their Bibles on Sunday morning . . . CANDY. I told the kids that each Sunday that they brought their Bible to KidZone they would get a Jolly Rancher. And so, the next week some kids showed up with a Bible. And the next week after that, more kids showed up with a Bible. You get the picture. There were, however, kids who, when asked why they kept forgetting their Bible responded with: “I don’t have one”, or “Our family only has one Bible and my brother brought it to his Sunday School class today.” Or, there were many kids who brought Bibles that were not age appropriate. It was very difficult to teach my grade 1-3 class when kids were bringing picture Bibles meant for preschool aged kids. This interaction with the kids revealed to me something that I was already afraid of: that there are Christians in our culture that are Bible illiterate. This phenomenon is not happening because they don’t have access to God’s Word, but rather because they don’t value His Word. They don’t read it and are therefore uneducated about the thousands of promises and Truths about God found in it. As adults, we attend Bible studies, we hear God’s Word preached at Church, and we spend time daily in quiet time with the Lord reading Scripture. This is all part of our discipleship journey with Jesus. If we are discipled and enter into God’s presence and promises through His Word, why would we not want to provide our kids with that same access to growing in their relationship with Jesus?
“Here, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
It is essential that our kids, from their youngest age, have unlimited and unhindered access to God’s Word and engage with Him and His Truth regularly! If we don’t make the Bible accessible and personal to them, it will be more difficult to get them to value it and to believe wholeheartedly the Truth treasures buried in its pages.
THE PROBLEM WITH LIMITING ACCESS TO SCRIPTURE
Okay, bear with me for this brief, yet important history lesson. Before the 15th century and the invention of the printing press, the Truths and stories in the Bible were either passed down through oral tradition or through the reading of manuscripts by priests in a religious setting. Christians during this time had to wait to hear God’s Word each Sunday at Church and even still, they could not read it themselves. The reality that only some people could read the Bible was unavoidable because there was no way to get mass copies of God’s Word translated in a comprehensible way into the hands of the people. This limitation with who could read scripture and engage with it led to some of the issues in the Catholic Church. An example of this was the creation of indulgences. People followed the Church leaders blindly, doing what they said based on their ‘interpretations’ of God’s Word. However, some leaders rose up in opposition. For instance, John Wycliffe and Martin Luther stood up for the Truth of Scripture and for the importance of the accessibility of it for all people.
“Because of the huge size of complete Bibles, they were divided into several volumes, and each was very costly. Only the rich and the universities could afford them. Into this situation came a great revolutionary named John Wycliffe, whose central doctrine was, “Every Christian ought to study this book because it is the whole truth!” Wycliffe inspired the first complete translation of the Scriptures into English. He also lashed out against the power and riches of the church establishment, and became a very popular leader at Oxford. Inevitably, he was condemned by the archbishop and was fired from Oxford. However, his conviction of the authority of the Bible rather than the Pope stirred great controversy. Despite the church’s efforts to suppress the Bibles, the common people were at last able to receive and read God’s Word.”
The International Bible Society
We take for granted today the privilege it is to read God’s Word whenever we want and in (almost) whatever language with a simple app on our phones! This kind of accessibility to God’s Word was fought for us to receive. Let’s not go back in time to unnecessarily deprive ourselves by creating a Bible accessibility problem. By not bothering to have God’s Word in our homes or by limiting our children’s access to scripture by not reading to them or giving them their own copy of it, we are in danger of repeating mistakes of the past.
VALUING GOD’S WORD: THE POWERFUL EXAMPLE OF A PARENT
My Mom gets up early every day to spend time with Jesus. When I was a kid, and in particular a teenager, I remember walking up the stairs each morning to find her, a fresh cup of coffee and her NLT Bible seated in the front living room. She was praying, she was drinking deeply from the well of God’s Word and she was sitting in the presence of Jesus. At this point in my life I was walking through some difficult struggles and doubts in my own relationship with God, but to saunter up the stairs each morning ready to darken the halls of high school, the image of my Mom sitting with Jesus in His Word was being burned into my brain. So, when I graduated high school and moved to a different city, I had a choice: to stop being a Christian and choose my own way (which, let’s be honest, as an eighteen year old would have probably led to partying and boys), or to figure out what it means to follow Jesus and to lean into my faith on my own. I decided I was going to, like my Mom, start reading my Bible each day. After a month of setting an alarm to get up earlier to read Scripture, just like I had seen my Mom do countless times before, I chose to be all in with Jesus. God’s Word transformed me . . . and, it continues to transform me each and every day as I get up early to spend time drinking deeply from the True and life giving Words found in its pages. I am who I am today in my faith journey with Jesus because my Mom valued God’s Word and showed me to do the same. I hope I can pass this same legacy onto my children.
“My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding – indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
Proverbs 2:1-7
Do your kids see you treasuring and enjoying spending time with God in His Word? The impression that leaves with them is more valuable than you can ever know.
ADVICE ON HOW TO PARENT
If you know me, you probably read that heading and rolled your eyes. Good, that’s the reaction I was hoping for! If you rolled your eyes it is because you know that I don’t have any kids yet. So why should I be giving advice? Well don’t worry! I am not going to be giving you ANY advice. I only have the best parent and I think you could learn from him. Let me tell you about my Dad. My Dad is awesome! He is completely loving and he is always there for me – even when I don’t think I need him. He enjoys spending time with me and he always says and thinks kind and good things about me. When I screw up or make bad choices, he disciplines me because he knows it’s better to do something to teach me to make a better decision next time; it’s not fun, but it is always gracious. He has so much going on all of the time, but he makes all of the time in the world for me. I never have to worry that he forgot about me or doesn’t want to talk to me. He is always thinking of me and I can pick up the phone any time, day or night, to talk to him. I have hurt him so many times . . . literally too many to count! But every single time he forgives me. He would do ANYTHING for me, including take a bullet in my place . . . or in this particular case, die on a cross. You know my Dad – because, if you are a Christian, He’s your Dad too. Don’t get me wrong, my earthly father is great and I love him a lot! But my heavenly Father? Well, He’s the perfect Father.
The Bible is important to read, cherish and make accessible for all, but it’s also the perfect place to read and garner the best advice on being a great parent. It has tons of Scripture verses to teach parents how to parent: Deuteronomy 6, Ephesians 6:4, Proverbs 13:24, Proverbs 22:6, etc. But, the Bible is also one GIANT love story from the most perfect and loving parent to His kids. Read any story in scripture and you can learn the best parenting ‘advice’ from God’s reactions and Words to the Israelites . . . to His people . . . to us. What more do we need to parent each and every one of our kids, than the example of perfect love that has been shown time and time again by God Himself?
THE “ONE SIZE FITS ALL” BOOK
You know when you’re online shopping and you come across the perfect pair of pants? They look amazing and you’re ready to hit ‘check out’, only to find that there is only one size to choose from . . . and it claims that that ‘one size fits all’. Well, that is a lie from the pit of hell. There is no pair of pants in the world that can fit someone who is a double zero as well as someone who is a size twenty. Unless they are magic pants, and those just don’t exist in the real world!
Well, what do I mean by the “one size fits all” book? I mean a book that, no matter the criteria: your language, culture, gender, or what era you were born in . . . it is FOR YOU. It has it’s own kind of magic: the power of God Himself in the very words read and spoken from within. That book is the Bible. What a gift! Parents, let’s make sure that we read these sacred pages, that we treasure these words, that we learn and grow from them, that we follow the direction that they point us, and that we take the time to teach our kids to turn to God’s Words and hold onto His Truth firmly for the rest of their lives. It is for them as much as it is for us.
Not sure which Bible to get your child? Check out my recommendations:
Written by: Justine Joy
Refined Joy 