The other day at church I had the opportunity to preach on why we should be investing in the Word of God. You can watch that message here. As I prepared this message this thought crossed my mind: How many parents talk about the Bible in front of their kids but are rarely seen reading it in front of them? In light of that, I want to give you three reasons why your kids should see you reading your Bible.
1 – It shows them the importance of investing in the Word
Our kids tend to imitate what we deem as important. Skip church regularly? Your kids might grow up with the idea community isn’t that important. Eat bad? Your kids might grow up having learned bad eating habits from you. Cuss often and gossip much? Your kids might grow up to use profanity nonchalantly and gossip about other people as if it’s okay. You get the idea, I’m sure. If we treat time investing in the Word of God has secondarily and not important our kids will learn to do just the same. And we wonder why we have such a biblical illiterate generation. By not investing in the Word we are teaching the next generation that the Bible isn’t that important.
We may say we love God, follow Jesus and seek God’s counsel but if we never open up His inspired or breathed out Word written to us by 40 authors of diverse backgrounds over 15 centuries then there’s no backing to what we are saying! A love for God should equate to a love for His Word. After all Jesus Himself said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (NKJV). Humans did not create the Bible—God used humans to write down His Word which was written through human hands that who inspired by the Holy Spirit! When our kids see us reading God’s Word it will show them God’s Word is important.
2 – It increases the chances of them NOT leaving the church when they are older
A recent article from ChurchLeaders.com called How Skipping Church Affects Your Children sheds some light on the reason why many young people leave the church. And, to me, it’s eye-opening!
In light of reading the Bible, I do believe not reading God’s Word in front of your kids will be another stepping stone to them one day falling into apostasy. According to the article, “Maybe the reason why our children have no love for Christ is due to the fact that we as parents do not show any love or passion for Christ, evidenced by how we prioritize our time both on Sundays and during the week. When television, sports, school, hobbies even family itself are elevated to a place of idolatry and replace the vital Christian responsibilities, then we tell our children that Christ is secondary to all these things. We tell our children that it is not necessary to take up your cross and die to yourself daily in order to follow Christ. We tell them that you only have to live for Christ when it’s convenient for you. We tell them it is okay to sacrifice time with your all-satisfying Savior if something “more fun” or “more important” comes along (sarcasm indicated by quotation marks if you didn’t catch that). And this sounds like a clear path to apostasy if you ask me.”
If we teach our kids the practice of skipping out on the things of God AND the reading and study of God’s Word, we are positioning them to likely walk away from following Jesus when they are older. We are creating an environment for apostasy to develop. Combat that by living out your passion and love for Christ NOW by keeping Jesus first and everything else secondary!
Get in the Word so that your kids see the Word getting in you! Be the example.
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SOURCE: Christian Post, Aaron J. Hall
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