Welcome to Tuesday Talk!
The topic for this month: Sharing your faith with your children.
In our home we love Jesus. We believe that He is the son of God, He lived a holy and sinless life, and was the atonement for our sins. We believe in salvation by faith. We believe that being a christian doesn't make you immune to sin and that God's Grace and love for his children is abundant. God doesn't call people to a life of perfection. He calls them to trust, believe, proclaim and depend on a perfect Savior.
More than anything in this world I want my children to know a few things.
1. No matter how much we, (or others) say we love you, God loves you more.
2. Christians mess up. We will never be perfect on this earth. But Gods grace is extravagant.
3. God is good, ALWAYS. He is incapable of being anything but good.
3. God is good, ALWAYS. He is incapable of being anything but good.
4. The Bible does not promise that being a Christian is easy, actually the opposite is true.
5. Everything pales in comparison to Christ.
I pray that they would come to know and love Jesus.
There is rarely a day that goes by that I don't think about that.
There is rarely a day that goes by that I don't think about that.
Here are some ways we share our faith with our children in our home.
1. We go to church. Going to church does not make you a Christian, but we believe Christians should actively be involved in a body of believers.
2. We pray together.
3. We study the Bible together.
2. We pray together.
3. We study the Bible together.
4. We repent to our children when we have wronged them. Few things are more humbling than confessing sin and repenting to a 4 year old. But it is always so good for both of us.
5. We give them opportunities to grow. In our home those look like Awana, VBS, or our Christian home school co-op.
6. We worship together. I love listening to praise music with my girls.
7. We work on catechisms with them.
8. We talk about disobedience and call it what it is, sin.
The Bible says:
Train a child the way they should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6
The Bible tells us to train our children.
We believe this is a call to action. It is not a suggestion of something we can do when it works out for us. Training is hard and it must be consistent.
The Bible also says:
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants no he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
I Corinthians 3:6-7
Right now our job is to plant as many seeds in their hearts as we possibly can. We plant, trust, hope and pray that God will make the seeds grow.
As much as we want to, we are incapable of being everything our girls needs.
As much as we want to, we are incapable of being everything our girls needs.
But we know a God who is more than enough.
How do you share your faith with your children?
This is such a beautiful post. Pray and devotion together is so important as a family!
ReplyDeleteI really love this post.
ReplyDeleteI love love love this! Thank you for sharing how you share God in your home. It's so wonderful to know there are others families that have children in Connor's generation that focuses on having a Godly existence.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. My son is still to young to understand on faith. As he grows I will hope to focus more on my own faith as well.
ReplyDeleteI find this really interesting to read, I was brought up in a very Catholic family but it has fallen to the side as I have grown older. But religion is something which interests me on all levels, I love how so many stories have root in the bible, I love the differences yet similarities in religion (we live in a Muslim country) and Iove seeing how people bring their religion with importance into their lives. Thank you for the insightful post x
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this! I love it and plan on sharing it with my daughter and her husband who are also sharing their faith with their young children (18mos & 5yrs). Have a wonderful day ~Dianne @ www.scrutinizinglife.com
ReplyDeleteSuch a great post. This is something my husband and I talk about all the time. We always read a devotional at dinner each night, something we're looking forward to getting our kids involved with when they get older.
ReplyDeleteLOVE this! I agree! So important! We try so hard to introduce Hallie to our Faith, even this young! We take her to Mass every week and we end each night with a family prayer!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post! I love - Few things are more humbling than confessing sin and repenting to a 4 year old. That is pretty wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI love this!!! My daughter is just now old enough to really start taking in the important things like our faith.
ReplyDeleteOh I love this! On Sunday I was in the mother's lounge at our church changing Mia's diaper when she pointed at the pictures in the room and picked out "'esus!" (and the animals, ha ha!) all on her own without prompting. It's the first time she's done it and my heart could have burst! It's so sweet to see them catching on to the things we teach them! Mia is also obsessed with praying which I find super sweet :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Sarita. It really is, always a favorite time of mine too.
ReplyDeleteAaahhh, thanks friend. I am so glad that you picked this as a topic. I LOVED writing and sharing this post and maybe never would have done it with out your prompting.
ReplyDeleteI love knowing that too!
Thank you so much for reading and for passing it along.
ReplyDeleteYou tood!
Love the simple list you have to teach your children. They're definitely the most important lessons and you've put them so simply. I can't wait until Wyatt starts understanding more of what our faith is about. Thanks for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteI love the way you've narrowed this down to your core beliefs and the behaviors associated with them. As adults, we often make faith so complex, and sometimes I need to get back to these basics for myself. They can be the hardest to believe, too, but they certainly are the backbones of our faith. Thanks for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteYou said it so perfectly! We also have a lot of religious artwork up around the house. So we can point them out and explain them to the kids. It's amazing what little things they pick up on in a picture. Another great learning tool for the Faith! -Jess
ReplyDeleteThe more I think about it, I guess we also have them see us immersed in our Faith individually and together in our marriage. They see us reading devotionals, praying, living it out in our everyday lives... Great post, Beth...you really have me thinking now! -Jess
ReplyDeletePreach it Sister! It is totally humbling to apologize to a four year old, but modeling a behavior is the most important way to show Christ. And what I can definitely do better.
ReplyDeleteI am loving today's posts on this particular subject.
ReplyDeleteI feel as if I'm always growing with Christ, so to set a perfect example it's kind of tough. I just hope my actions and words reflect that I'm trying my best to do Christ's will, and that Marcus will follow in those footsteps as well.
Along with our actions, we say prayers at every meal, along with bedtime prayer. We also tackle church every Sunday. Admittedly, church is our biggest hurdle, as there is no nursery school for him to attend, so finding a way to get the little man to sit still, quietly, for an hour is always challenging. We hope with the training (it is SO HARD!) he will come to understand that church is one of the greatest places to reflect and give thanks while in God's home.
Thank you so much. We are doing the very best we can and doing a whole lot of trusting God too :).
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Ashley. It all comes down to the Gospel for us. So many people make it so much more complicated than it is. I am so thankful that Stephanie had this prompt. I really loved sharing this post.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Brittany. It all comes down to the Gospel in our house. The Gospel message is so simple and so powerful. I was almost 30 years old before I really understood it. If we can impart that into our girls at an early age.... wow. I can't imagine how much that would have helped me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and saying hello!
YES! The greatest witness is so much more than the words you say it's the life you live. Modeling that for your kids from the very beginning must have such a huge impact on them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jess. I am so glad that I wrote this post.
:). Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteI was a crying mess the first time I apologized to Marissa. She was barely 5 and I lost my temper. The way she just stared at me like I was crazy... I'll never forget it.
Thanks Desiree.
ReplyDeleteI think that's the beauty of it. We don't have to set a perfect example! Giving ourselves that standard is crushing. I think my kids learn more when I screw up and have to apologize than they ever would if I appeared perfect. Your doing a good job mama! Keep planting those seeds and trust God for the rest.
Loving this post. I definitely always feel like I fall short sharing the faith with our kiddos, but it's something to keep striving for, knowing God speaks to them as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks Becky. Yes, yes, yes! You summed it all up in just a sentence.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful weekend friend.
Well you knocked this one out of the park! Great post, Beth.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much friend. That means a lot 😊.
ReplyDelete