Teaching Our Kids About God

My daughter loves helping with chores around the house. Ever since she could walk, she gets her toddler sized broom out whenever I start sweeping the floors. If I’m wiping down countertops or tables, she asks for her own cloth to do the same. I’ll hand her wet clothes from the washing machine and she happily throws them into the dryer, excitedly waiting for the moment she gets to clean the lint out of lint trap.

I don’t know if this normal kid curiosity or if we just hit the jackpot, but I plan on fostering it as long as it lasts. Not only because I hope it instills a sense of service and helpfulness in her (though that is certainly a big part), but also because those moments are precious time that I have with her where I get the amazing opportunity to talk to her about God.

We talk about all the things God has created like our eyebrows and hummingbirds. We talk about stories like David and Goliath and how Goliath was a biiiiiiiiig man but that God is even bigger. We talk about how God protects us and how he is with us when our feelings are out of control.

I think, as parents, it can seem like a daunting task to teach our children about God. He is so big and glorious and the wealth of truth found in his word is so deep and vast that we will never comprehend it fully. How do we bring this incredible, sovereign, holy God down to the level of a three-year old? How do we answer their curious questions that come out of left field?

Well, the answer I see in Scripture is pretty straightforward - just do it. Any time. Anywhere. Any place. We are called to teach our kids about God. Moses explains it so perfectly in his words to the Israelites:

‘“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9

This passage is so encouraging and crucial for Christian parents. It paints a beautiful picture of what it looks like to pass on the truth of God to the next generation. Let’s break it down a little bit as we start to understand this command parents are called to obey.

We cannot teach what we do not know.

It starts with us. Moses begins this whole section encouraging the growth of personal faith. We must love the Lord our God with every single part of ourselves. We need to study his word so that his commands are written on our hearts. We must be intentionally seeking time to grow in our relationship with God, reading and studying his word, and allowing his sanctifying work to change our hearts. It is out of the overflow of our personal faith that we teach our children.

As our own faith grows, our lives will change and reflect the God we are teaching them about. It is crucial to walk the walk. I can’t expect my daughter to ‘practice her patience’ if she sees me fly off the handle at life’s inconveniences or despair when I don’t get my way. Me telling her that God protects us and is always with us falls flat if she sees fear ruling my heart. The things we teach our children come to life when they see our own lives transformed by the truth of God’s word.

Does this mean we have to be perfect before we start to teach? Praise God, no. Does it mean we walk alongside them, showing them how perfect God’s grace is in our weakness, how sure his salvation is in light of our mistakes, and how satisfying God is when we pursue him in our imperfections? Big time.

No moment is too small to teach.

What is so beautiful about this command is that it doesn’t say “You must find the perfect curriculum and have them sitting down for 8 hours every day while you teach them”. No. It says “when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” This is a picture of a regular, ordinary life made extraordinary as we point our children to God in everyday moments

It looks like my daughter wanting to change outfits every couple of hours and me telling her about how God gives us new clothes to wear when he saves us like compassion, love, and kindness. It looks like my daughter getting so excited when she sees we have the same eyes and I can tell her that both of us were created in God’s image. It looks like us going out for a walk, surrounded by mountains and trees and wildlife and trying to count how many things God created. And it looks like her and I changing out the laundry and talking about Jonah or David or Noah.

Redeem the time! Look for opportunities to point your children to God. Even if it’s small, take joy in using every moment to glorify God in your home.

Put it on repeat.

When Moses talks about binding God’s commands on our hands and writing them on the doorposts of our homes, he is talking about giving ourselves constant reminders about God’s word.

This idea works out well when it comes to children because, Lord knows, it takes 1,000 repetitions of anything before they start to get it.

So we retell the same glorious stories over and over again. We play Christian music on repeat, letting music reiterate what we talk about. We live out the truths we have taught so our children can see the gospel played out in real life. We constantly point them (and ourselves) back to God in every moment of life.

But our kids are not the only ones who benefit from repetition. You and I need to be reminded of the gospel all the time. So rejoice at opportunities to revisit the amazing stories of the Old Testament. Let your hearts worship as you point your children to the same God who saved you. Preach the gospel to yourself when parenthood is challenging and you feel like you’re failing.

Parents, we have the incredible privilege of passing on God’s word to the next generation. Is it daunting? Sometimes. Is it hard? It can be. Is it worth it? 1,000 times, yes. God has not left you to fulfill this command on your own insufficient strength. He is with you always. The work put into obeying this command is good work. So ask for wisdom, ask for patience, ask for strength to be obedient. Let us pass on the incredible, necessary truth of the gospel to our children.

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9