Teach them to your Children

Why Memorize Scripture?

What are our goals in teaching our children to memorize Scripture? The answer might be evident in which scriptures we are having them memorize. I have noticed a tendency to focus on verses that are about ‘do this, don’t do that”. Obviously these are very important all Scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training (2 Timothy 3:16-17). (Back to that in a minute.) These verses are important for knowing absolute truth, knowing right from wrong, knowing God’s will for our lives. But, why should they care? Why should they want to obey God? Would YOU want to obey a tyrant? Yes, He deserves obedience because He is God and one day every knee will bow, but God’s children obey out of love. Wouldn’t it be discouraging if the Bible was just rules? So, are we only concerned with outward obedience or do we want our childrens’ hearts for God? I would propose that along with teaching them “Children obey your parents.” and “The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.” that we also teach them “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. “(Hebrews 4:16) and “Know therefore that the Lord your God is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.” (Deuteronomy 7:9) and especially “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and Just to Forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

Mamas, be just as sure to teach your children love for God because he is GOOD because he is faithful, and because HE FIRST LOVED US! as you are to teach them that God hates a lying tongue. Because he didn’t leave us helpless and dead in our sin but promised a Savior from the beginning and loved us enough to sacrifice his own Son to die in our place. Tell them He’s coming back, He loves them even when they make mistakes and He forgives! Teach them He cares even when we are in the valley of the shadow of death. Tell them the Gospel over and over and over. Teach them the hope of salvation. Let your love for God be something they know in more than just words.

The truths about God’s character need to be so deeply planted in their minds and written on their hearts that they are the first thing that come to their minds when they lay in their beds feeling so alone and friendless after their best friend betrays them. They need to see your humble dependency on Him, too, your belief and trust in His goodness and faithfulness when you lose a loved one or don’t get a promotion you wanted. We are not promised life will be easy, in fact we are promised the opposite, life will be full of trials and suffering for the Christian, and how well we suffer says a lot about the God we serve especially to our children who watch us so closely.

So where is the practical?

The easiest part is teaching them the do’s and don’ts of scriptures. This comes naturally. They lie, you teach them “Thou shalt not lie, and lying lips are an abomination to the Lord”, but, THEN you teach them forgiveness both with your words AND actions and with verses like 1 John 1:9. It can be harder and come less naturally to teach the encouragements and other truths and scriptures because it actually takes learning to see them and know them yourself, we are quick to see the bad in our life and ask “Why, God?” but, how often do you see the good and blessings He has sent and say “Praise God!”? Do you point to God as the giver of those good things? So, we set an example of noticing and speaking those scriptures that praise God as the giver of all good things. Another way we teach Scripture is when we also acknowledge their feelings and show them Christ in ALL those feelings. We tend to see their disappointments as little and maybe even silly, but to them they’re big! And you know, some of our disappointments probably look little to God, but he has tender fatherly love for us anyway. Your toddler is disappointed and doesn’t understand why he can’t have the big kitchen knife while you are disappointed you can’t have that house you found on Zillow that would be PERFECT. We don’t know our Father’s whole plan but we trust He IS GOOD and He knows best. When your 9 year old is heartbroken her cat died, you tenderly show her how God is Sovereign and though we don’t understand His will we have faith He is good AND He weeps with those who weep. He doesn’t say ‘Quit crying. This is part of a bigger plan you just don’t understand.” Tell her how He became flesh and felt our suffering, crying with His friends when their brother and His friend died, EVEN THOUGH He knew what was about to happen. He is gentle and lowly of heart, He is the Good Shepherd that gently leads those sheep that are weak and hurting. When you use the smaller pains to teach God’s love and care for His children, then when that daughter grows up and experiences much deeper heartbreak like a miscarriage then hopefully those steadfast truths about God will already be so deeply etched in her heart that she can cling to them and find peace and comfort.

Okay where do I start?

You start with the Scripture on your heart right now, what Scripture is God teaching you right now? maybe you aren’t well versed in Scripture yourself. In that case, ask yourself, “What are you feeling right now?” Now go to Google and type Bible verses about __________. It will give you a bunch of verses. Make sure you read the whole chapter and pay attention to context. Who is talking? Who are they talking to? What is going on here? You do this because you definitely don’t want to take Scripture out of context and twist it to say what you want. That’s how we get false teachings. Write it somewhere you will see it all the time, like your bathroom mirror or your refrigerator door. Read it, say it, write it, pray it, share it. Read it in different versions. See if it’s set to song anywhere and sing it. Apply it to your life and let your children see.

Some Humility

I’ve written a lot about letting your children see your love and devotion to God, but what about when we mess up? What about when we get frustrated and lose our tempers? They definitely saw that, and now they need to see you humbly apologize to them and God and ask forgiveness. This is so hard for my proud heart, but children can spot hypocrisy faster than they can hear the wrapper of the candy bar you thought you could sneak in the pantry, and it will undermine your whole message.

Quick story, One day I was planning out the next verse to have the kids learn and was going to do Proverbs 16:24 “Gracious words are like honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones”. then I thought “I can’t teach this! My words are so often harsh and cutting, not gracious at all!” Then the Holy spirit reveled to me my pride. We don’t teach scripture so our children look at us and say ‘Wow, look how good mom is!’. We teach them so they can love and obey God and say ‘Wow, look how good God is!’, so they can see their need for a savior and our need for a savior because we are not God. So, I took this verse to the kids and said “I need to work on this too, don’t I? Let’s work on it together.” and whether it was my openness or the fact we each had a spoon of honey to see how sweet our words should be, either way when a few years later my 7 year old got his first Bible he immediately asked if I would help him find that verse and mark it. Are we good at using gracious words now? Nope, but we are trying and asking forgiveness often.

Be Encouraged

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the word of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” 2 Timothy 3:14-17 I’m reminded of Daniel, who as a young impressionable youth was stolen from his family and homeland and culture but who must have had faithful parents that taught him God’s word well enough that he refused to waver but continued to trust and believe in God even in a heathen land. Even if you “don’t know what to teach” just teach scripture! ALL scripture is God breathed. Teach in faith that God uses our imperfection “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you (or your child) will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6). God is faithful and will use our imperfect efforts for His purpose and His glory, even a little here and there is better than nothing.