Deuteronomy - Raising Our Kids To Know God

The desire of my heart for my children, above all else, is that they come to know the Lord and love him. I’ve always felt a bit at a loss, wondering if I’m doing the ‘right thing’ to help my kids encounter and know God. I didn’t grow up in a christian home, so I’ve worried I would do something wrong or not know how to correctly disciple my kids. I’ve quizzed my husband about his upbringing for clues and ideas of what to do. But still the anxiety still lurked.

I know that it is God who will draw them near, for I cannot make the decision for my kids. But I do want to do all I can to help them, or at the least not get in the way.

As we’ve been walking this unschooling journey, new questions have been coming up for me. We have this extra time together now, what can I do to foster their faith? How can I teach them the joys of serving, to notice the needs of others? How can I open their eyes to the goodness of God and draw thankfulness from their hearts?

I’ve been looking to scripture for advice on parenting.

Recently, I have been drawn to Deuteronomy 6:5-7 You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your mind 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.

It was one of those times when the verse was appearing everywhere; it was referenced in bible study, spoken about in a conference and it even came up as the lesson I was to teach in kids church. I kept coming back to it, and also reading the verses and chapters before and after. It’s been a little while since I had read through Deutoronomy, and I hadn’t realized how often it talks about the passing of faith to their children.

I also realized recently that Pslam 119 was a love song to God’s law. A love song to a list of rules would be strange, but God’s law is more than that. It reveals His character, and holiness. How things measure up to God’s word is our litmus test, our measure of truth and goodness. We have this calling as parents to proclaim the goodness of God. To proclaim His law as good and thank Him for it.

God created families. He created us to live in community with family as a foundation. And that is where our children are to hear of Him. It is to be more than a once a day devotional, or a once a week trip to church. We are to talk about Him as we go along our way. We are to teach them God’s words and talk about them as we sit, walk, and lie down. God set this as a foundation for how the Israelites were to pass their faith along to the future generations. He knew that a family culture enriched by conversations about God and His words were the best way for children to know Him. How had I previously missed that God had the answer spelled out for me and my worries?

As a homeschooling mom, my children are with me a lot. Almost all the time. So I have what is now a unique opportunity to live this out, as they walk with me as I walk by the way, and they are there when I rise, when I sit in my house, and when I lie down. I don’t need to find a checklist of things for me to do for my kids to love God. I can take them along with me as I travel this journey, the way God intended.

Deutoronomy 20-25 In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?” tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”

The stories we tell are important. Our brains are wired to remember stories. That is part of why I believe Jesus so often taught with them. What are the stories you tell your kids? My kids often ask me to tell them stories of our family. “Tell me the story about Papa and the bear” or “Can you tell me about the time when you and Auntie…” We are to tell our kids the stories of what God has done. This included bible stories, but it also includes the stories where you experience God in your own life. I like to tell my kids about the ways that God has answered prayers, or provided when we desperately needed Him. I hope that those stories become part of our family legacy, part of their inheritance, remembering what God has done for us.

Deuteronomy 4: 9-10 Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children - how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’

A vital part of passing on our faith to our children is making sure our own faith is healthy and strong. How can we pass on what we don’t have? Are we loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? Are we keeping our own souls diligently? A natural outpouring from our own faith will occur as we live out the fruits of the spirit, the joy and thankfulness that mark the lives of a Christian. And purposefully working to keep our faith strongly connected to God, the giver of life.

I hope today to leave you with this as an encouragement to live with your faith overpouring to your children, and also to spark a fire in you to make sure you are diligently guarding your own faith, so that this next generation that we’ve committed to raising knows the Lord and continues to love Him with their heart, soul, mind and strength.