Giving Your Words: The Lifegiving Power of a Verbal Home for Family Faith FormationНамуна

Loving words

Love is arguably the most important ingredient of a meaningful life. The apostle Paul’s poem to agape, the unconditional love of God, in 1 Corinthians 13 is unrivaled in the words that have shaped our understanding of godly love. Paul helped us understand how the abstract idea of love functions in real life by expressing concretely what it is and isn’t. Paul ends his poem by saying that of faith, hope, and love, love is the greatest. Why? Because only love will cross the barrier from this temporal life into the eternal. In eternity, we will no longer need faith or hope, but love will remain and abide with us forever. No wonder, then, that love should be at the top of any list of the kinds of words to give to our children.

One of our children needed to hear words of love. This child had been accused of being irresponsible by a supervisor, publicly berated and shamed. The infraction? Missing a weekly lunch to fulfill another responsibility. It was humiliating and unjust, and it had left this child in need of encouragement and love.

Sally was in the area, so they met at a hotel, had a nice dinner, took a long evening walk, and talked through the whole incident. There were words shared of our being proud of this child, and how much God loved them. Nothing deep and theological, but personal and biblical. Just a reminder of who they were in God’s eyes. The next morning, this child reported that the weight of the incident was lifted. The words Sally gave to this child were enough to remind them that they were accepted and loved by God.

Perhaps the most fundamental and faith-forming truth you can give to your children is that they are loved unconditionally by the God who created them.

Love by a divine being that they cannot see or hear is abstract for your children, but Scripture will give them words that form how they think about it. And there is no shortage of concrete love words in Scripture that you can store up in the well of your spirit to give to your children.

Words from Scripture about our love for one another are less abstract because your children will recognize that kind of love from their relationships with you and others. To show us what divine love looks like is partly why Jesus, as God, took on flesh—He did so to become Immanuel, “God with us.” Your children will hear God’s grace in your words of kindness and forgiveness when they lie or talk back. They will feel it in your loving hug when they are sad or blue. As you speak the truth of God’s word, your actions will provide concrete examples of Jesus’ love for them.