I was reading Judges 2:10-15 recently, and was struck by how quickly the Israelites turned away from God. I mean, their grandfathers had seen the 10 plagues in Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea. Their fathers had wandered in the desert, been fed miraculously by manna from heaven, and had seen the miraculous conquest of the promised land. Yet this generation "knew neither the LORD, nor what he had done for Israel" and "did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals." And that incurred God's wrath.
It put me in mind of a comment attributed to Rabbi Jonathan Sachs: "Grandfather prays in Hebrew, Father prays in English, Son no longer prays and Grandson is no longer Jewish". (Gotta love the internet!)
I guess the pressure to be just like everyone else is pretty strong wherever and whenever you live.
What's the solution? Please let me know - my own kids are too young yet for me to know if they will keep the infant faith they are showing now. I pray they will!
One man (with kids now in their early 20s) told me that he and his wife tried to show that their faith in Christ was real and living - it made a difference to how they lived. So these parents would read their bibles in the common parts of the house, where the kids would see. They prayed with and for their kids. I guess, as time went by, they explained decisions based on their faith in Jesus.
What has your experience been?
Your blog made me think... and I don't have any real answers apart from living what I preach (as best as I can), praying with and for my kids, reading with and to my kids from God's word and encouraging them in their own walk by pointing them to parts of the bible that may help them. I also have been reflecting with my siblings about the sorts of Christian tapes that we used to listen to as kids - Kids Praise, Antshillvania, etc. To quote my brother "Wistful memories aside, have you ever considered how influential those kids tapes were in our lives? Speaking for myself I learned a lot about Jesus from them".
ReplyDeleteMy parents also modelled praying through stuff for God's guidance and provision, praying for stuff (like when we moved we spent weeks praying as a family for towns and places in and around where we were moving) and that kids could 'do ministry' to - via things like sharing testimonies, performance stuff (kings kids), helping out in flood relief work, etc.
Ironically enough, yesterday I read your post, today this came up in my Google Reader:
http://theresurgence.com/files/2011/03/02/relit_ebook_pastordad.pdf
Maybe God's trying to tell me something :)
Hi Joshua,
ReplyDeletethanks for your contribution - it's great to hear your insights into raising your kids and your own experience growing up in the faith.
I've read Pastor Dad, and found it very thought provoking. Let me know what you think, if you get the chance!
James
We read the bible and prayed after most meals for a significant amount of my childhood. We started at Genesis and went through the bible in order - didn't get to the New Testament.
ReplyDeleteI found it pretty boring at the time, but looking back now it was helpful knowledge to be gaining. I didn't become confident in my faith until my 20's (I'm 27) and I wonder how I might have made different decisions in my life, had I engaged with my faith more a an earlier age.