How to Properly Raise Children in the Faith

Deuteronomy 6:20–24 (ESV) “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day.

Having given the people of God the Ten Commandments again, Moses unpacks the absolute necessity to make them an everyday part of their lives. They are to bind them on their hands and between their eyes. They are to teach them to their children. They are to put them on their homes. It is imperative they do not forget what God has said. Why? So that they might be blessed. Again and again God makes it clear that these words are for their good. He desires for them to have long life and prosperity in the land the Lord is bringing them into. 

God also brings stern warnings upon to remember His Words because they are inheriting and good and pleasant land ready made with all the accoutrements necessary for living and working. Houses they did not build, vineyards they did not plant laid the path to prosperity them. So God warns they must be diligent to remember the source of their blessing. If there is one thing most dangerous to our faithfulness it is the abundance and ease of prosperity. 

Now think of this text here concerning HOW the Israelites are to teach their children. When the child is grown enough to ask about these rules, the people of Israel are instructed to share their testimony of how God delivered them in the past. THIS IS IMPORTANT for every person who would ever raise a child. Because the first thing we try to do with children is simply instruct them on "what they should do" rather than the "why they should do it." Israel was to teach their children who they were before God saved them and what God did to make them who they now were. In other words, instead of just Biblical instruction, the catechism of children was tied to their desperate situation out of which God miraculously and graciously saved them.

We can and must learn from this. For one, Israel is to remember that they did not earn their blessings. God was gracious to them and good to them. God chose them and blessed them. These rules were in place because of God's goodness shown to them in times past. It is so much harder to lead a child in obedience simply because "God said so." No! Israel was to share their experience with their children. Israel was to humbly acknowledge before those they were in authority over: "I am who I am because of the God we serve."

It is important because children cannot learn from parents who do not think they need grace. I have heard of a man too fearful to have children for fear of messing them up concerning the faith. He interviewed children who stayed in the faith long after growing up in Christian households. The number one common denominator of the parents of those who held on to the faith was this: Those parents were humble enough to admit they needed God's grace. Parents who act like they never fail cannot properly raise children who will constantly fail to be healthy and faithful to God's good grace.

It makes sense. The Church is the only institution in the world that you get to belong to only after you admit you don't deserve to belong. AND this is what we should be teaching our children. We were nothing, but God showed up and made us something. We were not the noble, but God make us royal priests. We were drifting, but God put us on the path of righteousness. The next generation needs to see the Gospel of grace alive in our testimony. They need to see that we do not forget what God saved us from. They need to know we were just as foolish and possibly moreso... but God! May God awaken His Church to this form of child development once again.

For the sake of those to come.

Amen.