Parenting On Purpose (Part 2)Chikamu

Day 4: Hiding God's Word in Their Hearts

Jalene: Scripture tells us in Psalm 119:11 to hide God’s word in our hearts so we might not sin against him. This includes our children. Especially our children. It seems an obvious conclusion that in order to do this, we as parents are going to have to be reading scripture in our homes and having conversations that reinforce it. Church is great reinforcement of scripture, but when it comes down to it, it’s our job as parents to lead our children to become fully devoted followers of Christ. What this looks like in your home can vary depending on the dynamics of your family unit. The way we reinforced scripture in our home looked different in different seasons depending on the age and age distance of my children at the time. However, having grown children now, I asked them what made the most difference and they responded that it was short devotionals and open conversations leading back towards God’s word. Was I a Bible thumper parent? If by that you mean I found any way possible to insert scripture into their lives, then yes. My hope was for them to know it well and love it, not cringe because their parents were shoving it at them at every turn. If you are a parent of young children you are in a perfect place to start. Maybe that looks like memorizing scripture through song or short stories that teach biblical truth. You are not wasting your time. The Bible clearly states that all scripture is God breathed, and useful for teaching, rebuking, and training in righteousness. Parents, gather your children/teens and boldly lead them back to God’s word.

Macy: Being the youngest of four siblings, I recognized at an early age that my older siblings had vast knowledge of scripture and had memorized many verses. This did not come so natural to me. However, we regularly gathered for short devotionals and conversations about scripture. I didn’t recognize how much scripture had actually soaked in from that, until little by little, I’d start to hear things that culture taught - from movies, books, twitter, etc.- that seemed a little off to me. Suddenly a verse would pop into my head, or a memory of a family devotional, and I’d recognize that what was being taught wasn’t aligned with scripture. As a young adult, I have been so thankful for the scriptural knowledge I accrued growing up, and the ability to compare it against the things I was taught by professors, or mentors, or even popular books. Not everything we are taught is actual truth, and this is a very important time to know God’s truth in our hearts. Hebrews 2:1 reminds us “Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”

Action Step: Boldly teach and lead your children back to God’s word by beginning to read scripture to your children today.