Excerpted from Moments With You by Dennis and Barbara Rainey.
Family Life Today.
Pass It Down
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go.
Psalm 32:8 NASB
How can you tell if the spiritual-sounding words coming out of your children's mouths are evidence of a true faith?
The fact is, you may not really know until they're somewhat older, because most children are clever enough to say what they know Mom and Dad want to hear. It often takes some severe testing to determine the veracity of your children's faith, and that doesn't usually happen until they're well along in their teen years, perhaps even college-age or older.
Our children began to have their faith tested in middle school. They started coming home with questions like, "What does the Bible say about evolution?" or "What does God think about being gay?" We had many lively discussions at the dinner table as I played devil's advocate to help them think through their beliefs. That's when they began to discover truth on their own from Scripture.
I don't know how to emphasize enough the importance of this kind of training. Depending upon whose research numbers you believe, the rate of young adults who abandon the faith of their parents is somewhere in the 50- to 80-percent range. We're talking about a major problem.
If we are to avoid the fate of many other nations where Christianity has dwindled into irrelevance, it must begin in homes like yours. Your children can only hitchhike on your faith for so long. You must constantly be looking ahead to the day when you release them to take their own journey of Christian belief.
May we raise children to invade and infiltrate the twenty-first century, not with faith standards blindly adopted from their parents, but with biblical beliefs honed into convictions.
Discuss
What are the key messages and convictions from the Bible that you want to pass on to your children? Discuss how you can both do a better job of diligently teaching and training your children.
Pray
Ask God for the passion to make biblical training a top priority in your home, as well as the peace not to worry about being a super-theologian--just to share what you're experiencing and learning about God.
In 2007, God called us from a fifteen year history in manufacturing to Life Action Ministries to help support the message of revival. It is our desire and passion to see personal revival transform lives in order that we may become a nationwide community of believers who are loving, Christ-like, and committed, so that Christ’s redemptive purposes can be accomplished in the world.
