Why must it be the Dad's?
As we search the Scriptures it can be seen that the ultimate responsibility is for the Dad of the family to take up the challenge to gather his family around him and talk with their Heavenly Father; to teach and instruct his family in the Word of God; to be the 'priest' of the family, the spiritual leader. It's an awesome responsibility and many fulfill it. This blog is written to encourage those who have not yet established this most meaningful and essential daily practice in the life of their family.
Let's look at Deuteronomy 6:1-12. This portion doesn't mention fathers per se, but God most always spoke to the male leaders of the people of Israel. In New Testament times, as well, the men have the biggest responsibilities in the spiritual leadership arena. More about that later. Here the people were entreated to "have God's law upon their hearts", first, I might add, and then to "impress them upon their children". Talking about them constantly, every chance they got.
Psalm 78:1-4 but especially verses 3 and 4 specifically name the fathers and the duty to pass on to their children and to the next generations, about God and His ways. This is of very great import!
If you could go all the way back to the Tower of Babel in ancient world history, we see, according to the Bible, the account of how God confused the languages of the people. Then, from a book called God and the Ancient Chinese by authors Samuel Wang and Ethel R. Nelson, we see that the Chinese speaking group moved to the "land of Sinim" (the Middle Kingdom or China) led by two guys by the names of Yao and Shun.
We can see encapsulated in many Chinese characters, stories from the Bible. I'm no expert in this at all but have learned that an old Chinese character includes the word 'vessel' or 'large boat' tells the story of the flood, or at least that eight 'mouths' were involved.
Later, to continue the God and the Ancient Chinese story, a man name Tang took over the guidance of the Chinese in the land of Sinim. Next in line were the Duke of Zhou, Fu Tzu (otherwise known as Confucius) and Mencius. Confucius was likely the wisest man who ever lived in China and perhaps second in line to our Old Testament Bible character King Solomon. Confucius got Mencius to write down all the stories and wisdom of the years. He was to do so meticulously so as to preserve exactness and to not insert his own applications thereof. Meticulous Mencius.
This was all human wisdom so conscientiously recorded so that their future generations would know. What more the actual Word of God to be revered in our hearts and lives enough to be passionately passed on to our children and grandchildren with integrity till our last breath. Fathers, the task lies with you. Will you rise up to the challenge?
My personal testimony attests to this being the case with my parents. They were (and still are at this writing) very devout Christians. Therefore the home I grew up in was devoutly Christian. My Dad took his role of spiritual leadership in the home very seriously and we would have not one, but two, daily devotion times per every single day of my life at home!
We'd all rise and shine (maybe not too shiny) extra early in the morning, have breakfast, clear away the dishes, all get out our respective Bible (all six of us plus Dad and Mom) and we'd read one full chapter. Morning was the Old Testament and evening we'd repeat the process only then it was a chapter from the New Testament. We read straight through from Genesis to Malachi and from Matthew clear through to Revelation. No skipping 1st and 2nd Chronicles which was packed full of difficult to pronounce names. Every Word of God was important to my parents. After the chapter reading my Dad would make comments and we would say a memory verse for the week. All this before we could run off to catch the school bus in the morning or do our homework in the evening.
When my Dad was away on mission trips my Mom would take over. They showed by this example what was important to them and therefore important to life in general.
Of course, we were normal children, at the time we didn't appreciate all this much. However, looking back now, I'm so grateful for all that Bible learning. On top of all that we were expected to read a chapter of our choosing every day for ourselves.
As parents now, my husband and myself make sure God's Word gets into our children. Yes, two times a day but not as intensely as how my parents conducted family devotions. Each family will have their own special way of doing so. The point is to have one.
I figure, we as parents make sure our children have physical food three or more times a day maybe even with a snack or two thrown in for good measure, so, as Christians who love God and His Word, why would you NOT 'feed' your children the spiritual food that is so needed for them to know about God and how to have that all important relationship with Him?
We spend time buying groceries, preparing food, cooking food all so our children have good nutrition and hopefully good physical health and growth.Bring that to the spiritual food idea. Yes, it too takes, time, effort and energy to go digging into God's Word to get some "meat" and then 'feed' it to our children.
Again, as parents we all make sure our children are educated academically; we send them to tutors; we give them music and swimming lessons, and etc. Please do not neglect that which counts for eternity in the souls of your children.
I don't say all this to embarrass or condemn you as you read this. NO, my wish and prayer are that you be challenged and encouraged to take up this task in your respective family if you haven't already.
If you are doing this on a daily basis--Praise the Lord!If not, there's a saying that says, "Better late than never." Don't feel guilty, just feel convicted. We can repent of not having done so and then take up serving your children and wife in this way. If you have teenagers already, don't despair, use the time you do have left before your son or daughter leaves home. Redeem the time.
Whether you've grown up in a Christian home or whether you are a first generation Christian, this call is given especially to fathers! You can still do it! Find a way that works best for you.
Mothers, or aunts, you can get in on the action too. Remember Leah and Eunice in the New Testament? They were Timothy's grandmother and mother, respectively. You can read about them in 2 Timothy 1:3-9. The two taught Timothy from young and he knew the Scriptures well. Eventually, the apostle Paul took over in later years.
The father figure, figures highly in the spiritual upbringing of a child. Father involvement is actually a command. Look at Ephesians 6:4,
"Fathers, do not exasperate your children, instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."
If you do not do the second part of that verse, it seems a father then exasperates his children.
If you still have young ones at home don't worry. Here's some recommendations for starters. The Bible for Little Eyes by Kenneth N. Taylor is fabulous. On one side of the opened book is a very nice picture and the other side has a short couple of paragraphs entailing the story the picture depicts. There are then two or three questions you can pose to your children.
There are little activity type books with stickers to arrange in proper sequence or to scribble with pencil on to bring out a picture. Then there is the story of Ruth or of Jesus turning water into wine. These may be a bit costly however.
For reading straight from the Bible, why not start out with a Psalm or Proverb in your own private reading. Read and see what the Holy Spirit teaches you. Let that be what, in turn, you share with your older children or adapt it for your younger ones. Let it be from your heart and by the Holy Spirit. Short, sweet and simple. The Proverbs are really easy to get stuff from. Read through one month and pick out all the contrasts between the righteous versus the wicked; then another month to find them between the fool and the wise and see what characterizes each; or read through another time and month and discover lots about $$ matters.
Or the stories in the gospel of Mark or Luke and see what Jesus' character is like: kind, gentle, meek, just.
When we spend time in God's Word and share it with our children they will see it's importance to you and in turn hopefully spur them to dig into God's Word for themselves too.You will discover that you do not need a PHD in theology to study and share God's Word. Each parent and youth or younger child who knows Jesus Christ as Savior has the Holy Spirit within them and when we quiet ourselves without hand phone, computer, TV or work issues, we can and will hear the Holy Spirit speaking with us, personally.
It may seem a really strange habit to introduce into your daily routine at first. It takes about thirty to forty days to develop a new habit and get it somewhat established so do persevere. Discipline is a key to this.
The Holy Spirit + God's Word + a Willing Heart is needed. People make time for what they really want to do.
Here's a whats-app message I got some time ago which reads,"The route to success begins with one step out of our comfort zone with small beginnings with faith to trust God as we are in His hands."
There are of course, a plethora of study guides available for all ages, have a look in your nearest Bible book store. However, the best book to read is the B-I-B-L-E. Do engage in daily Bible devotions with your wife and children. And may God bless you all with the reading of His Word.
~ERC 2016~
No comments:
Post a Comment