How did you learn to ride a bike? Brush your teeth? Play the piano? Read a book? Someone taught you, of course. Or maybe several “someones” taught you in these areas. “It takes a village” as the African proverb says. But as a parent, you were probably the first one to teach these things and brought other trusted individuals into your child’s life to help cultivate them as they grew.
Now consider this: how did you learn about Truth? Right and wrong? A Biblical worldview? Sin and forgiveness? Salvation and heaven? Surely someone taught you these things as well. If you grew up in a Christian home, you can probably remember learning these things from a Sunday School teacher, at a Bible camp, at Vacation Bible School, during a sermon, or from a Christian mentor.
If you weren’t born into a Christian family and God used a faithful disciple to share the faith with you, what an awesome testimony you have as well!
Sadly, those who grew up in Christian homes rarely have a testimony of learning the faith in their homes… from their own parents and grandparents as the Bible instructs. They, like me, grew up with an example of what a Christian does and doesn’t do (you do go to church, you don’t do drugs; you do say prayers at the dinner table, you don’t steal or cheat).
Now you are reading this today because we serve a sovereign God of grace and mercy. He loves us and calls to us even in our sin and rebellion. He draws individuals to himself even when we are running the opposite direction. God’s plan never fails.
Once we are saved, don’t we want to be obedient? Don’t we desire more and more of God and less and less of this world? So when we learn God’s heart, his intention, his plan, we should want to get on board, follow his lead and trust his goodness!
This is why building faith and knowledge in Truth in our homes is so critical. We make investments into our child’s learning in areas such as sports, academics, the arts, physical health and wellbeing. So we must ask ourselves the hard question: Am I putting the same effort (or any effort) into building their spiritual health and development?
As Christians, one #1 goal is not for our children to be happy, popular or wealthy. Our first priority, Biblically, is that they know God, know the Bible, and ultimately, by God’s grace, come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Are you in? I hope so. I’m so excited for the next 2 weeks together. On our last day, I’ll be answering some of the most common questions about home discipleship. If you have something you want me to talk about, please leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to compile a complete list for us.