Teach Them Diligently

"And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons 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 up.”  Deuteronomy 6:6-7

My children got into the car after a day at their Christian school and told me that a friend of theirs was going to hell. They said, “He lies, mom, and liars go to hell.” I asked, “Why do you think that?” Then the two kids broke out in a song that has a line that says, “Liars go to hell…liars go to hell…Revelation 21:8, 21:8…burn burn burn.” I thought to myself, “How can my kids believe this when we know we each fall short everyday?” Well, the subject changed and I never addressed it.

Around 4:30 the next morning, I woke up with this thought racing in my mind: “You need to teach your children about grace. They are not being taught how to live in God’s grace at their Christian school. The gospel is about God’s grace to sinners. Your kids don’t understand how to extend grace to others or themselves.”

After much prayer, I approached the subject of grace and what Revelation 21:8 says. My son said to me, “Are you telling me that I sin everyday (lying included) and God doesn’t hold that against me? Are you telling me that I can do whatever I want, and because of the blood of Christ, it is covered and God sees me as righteous anyway?” Immediately I prayed, “Oh Lord, I really want my 13 year old son to completely get this but this Truth can lead to poor choices…help.” And the wisdom of the Lord came upon me as I opened my mouth and said to him, “Yes. That is exactly right. However, if you really love the Lord and know Him, you won’t want to sin and hurt Him. Your heart should respond back to His love and as a result, you will live a life that is pleasing to Him.” Both of my kids nodded in agreement and said, “Cool.”

I thanked the Lord when my daughter then said to me, “Mom, school teaches us about God but you teach us how to know Him better and love Him more.” God gets the glory because I ignored it initially.

Today, we need to realize the responsibility we have to give our children a strong biblical foundation. We have to role model to them the love of Christ from our hearts and we have to teach them how to know Him better. Be sensitive to the conversations you have with your children. God will lead you in what to say…just be diligent!

~Daily Disciples Devotional~