Fathers and Mothers: Devotions from Time of GraceSample

Parenting: Teach Them God’s Word and Will

The mosquitoes that have been poking me all summer did not have to go to mosquito college to learn how to drill for red gold. That ability was simply in them from the moment they were hatched. All of the behaviors needed for a successful blood extraction operation are preinstalled in their tiny mosquito brains.

But knowledge about Jesus doesn’t come to people mosquito-style. I think some parents think that the Christian faith self-implants and self-develops in their children, but when they’re wild and rebellious teenagers, the parents wonder what went wrong.

Children aren’t born knowing there is a God who loves them and thinks they are precious. They will soon find out how evil the world is and will discover also the presence of evil in their own minds. But they have no innate knowledge of their Savior Jesus. If he is to come and live in their little hearts, children need you to tell them. Moses instructed the believers in his day not to neglect sharing information about God’s words and mighty deeds, but rather to “teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 11:19).

When you speak God’s words in your home, they are as powerful as if God himself were speaking to your children. God’s words bring power to drive out Satan, create faith, and build your child’s capacity to know and choose what is good and God-pleasing in life."