How do you teach a not-yet-reader to love the Word of God? In addition to reading the Bible to them from a young age, here are 5 other ways. 5 WAYS TO TEACH YOUNG CHILDREN TO LOVE THE WORD OF GOD1. Listen to the Bible on CD. (Or, in this day and age, you can stream it.)
When I was a child, my father often had tapes of the Bible playing in our house. Even before I could read, I loved the intonation of the words of the Bible as read by Alexander Scourby. This year one of my goals is, whenever possible, to have my children go to sleep listening to the Bible on CD. My children really enjoy this. 2. Read Bible Stories to Them. I remember in vivid detail the night I asked Jesus to save me from my sins. I was about four years old, and we had read the story of Christ's death on the cross during our family devotional time. Every time I think of that night, I think of the picture of Jesus on the cross from the Bible story book we read. The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes is still one of my favorite Bible story books for little children and we use it for devotional times with our little ones. My children have loved that particular book so much that we have gone through 4 or 5 copies of it. It is hard to find now; the publisher has updated it with cartoon-like pictures, which is a real shame because the original pictures are stunning. I highly recommend the original book for children ages 1-6. 3. Teach them Bible songs. We had a favorite song we sang to each of our babies when we put them down to bed. In addition, with our twins, David and Daniel, we started singing "Only a Boy Named David" and "Dare to Be a Daniel" to them before they were even born. Do you teach your children songs at a young age? Here are some great ones to use:
4. Memorize, Memorize, Memorize. The early years are "parrot" years. Little children are like sponges and they love to memorize. The verses you teach your toddlers will stick in their minds for years to come. In kindergarten, my class memorized a major portion of Hebrews 11 and to this day I retain most of those verses in my long-term memory. Don't underestimate the ability of even very young children to memorize. A 2- or 3-year-old child can memorize whole passages of Scripture. Memorizing is fun for small children. 5. Set a good example. Let them see you reading your Bible in the mornings. They will automatically pick up on your love for it. Instill a respect in them for your devotional time. When my young ones wake up early and interrupt my Bible time, I try to remind them that this is Mama's most important time of the day because I am learning about God. In addition, my little ones watch the older children read the Word of God in the early mornings. Your children innately know what is important to you and it shapes their own worldview. These are just five of many ways to teach young children to love the Word of God. If we want them to learn while they are still young to let the Word of God dwell in them richly, we must be intentional with our parenting. Of course, we should always remember that the end goal is to teach them to love the God of the Word. It is through the Word of God that they will come to know, trust, and worship Him. What do you do to teach your children to love the Bible at a young age? If you are longing to experience the full beauty of the Biblical metanarrative, try a 90 Day Bible Reading Plan. Here are some of the pros and cons. On New Year's night, exhausted from watching the unbelievable fireworks here in Metro Manila on New Years Eve, I put the kids down early for bed and picked up Women of the Word, a book I was borrowing from a friend. Unable to put it down, I finished the book within a couple of hours. In it, author Jen Wilkin mentions the idea of studying the Bible with perspective: understanding where each passage fits in the Biblical metanarrative. I was drawn to the idea of firming up my own memory of the Biblical timeline by doing a quick read-through of the entire Bible. (Many years and six children have occurred since my graduate school Bible classes.) Because of this, I started the New Year with a prayer that God would show me what to do in my devotions this year. After I prayed about this, my husband came into the room to tell me that he had purchased a 90 Day Bible for Kindle. I was immediately struck with the idea that this was probably the Lord's answer to my prayer. So he shot it to my Kindle, and this is the plan I am currently using in my devotional time. Timmy, my 11-year-old, also wanted to use this plan. (This blesses a Mama's heart!) And I have a dear friend who is planning to do a similar plan. So there are three of us doing this and we plan to hold each other accountable. The Pros and Cons of a 90 Day Bible Reading PlanWhat are the pros and cons of a 90 Day Bible Reading Plan?
Do you want a plan for reading through your Bible this year? Here are six different options. Shortly after we were married, I horrified my husband with my free-spirited approach to reading the Bible. "What did you read in your devotions today?" he asked one morning. "I finished Romans," I told him. We had a great conversation about what we had read and learned. The next day, he asked again: "What did you read in your Bible this morning?" "I started Jeremiah," I replied, cheerfully. Stunned silence. My husband cannot fathom a person who reads their Bible out of order. Each and every year, since I have known him, he has read through his Bible. In order. Genesis to Revelation. Or maybe Chronological order. Or one of those plans where you read a passage from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. He has read the McCheyne Bible Reading Plan. Twice he has read the Greek New Testament. He even spent one year reading the Amplified Bible. (He jokes that he read his Bible one and a half times that year.) But never since he has been a grown man has he considered bouncing around the Bible randomly. Me? I was the ball in the pinball machine. Now, please don't misunderstand. I loved reading my Bible. I read it faithfully. I just didn't love reading Jeremiah and Ezekiel back to back. Or Leviticus and Numbers. I liked breaking it up by reading something else in order to keep on swimming through. Catch a breather in the Psalms, for instance. Then hold my nose and dive back into the deep end of the major prophets. So for several years he looked at me with fond discomfort in his eyes when I shared with him my unconventional devotional tactics. He was very glad I was reading my Bible, of course. Just a little perturbed about my way of doing it. But then something happened. One year, I finally decided to join those faithful souls who systematically read through their entire Bible in one year. With a plan. The result? I fell deeper in love with my Bible. I saw new vistas. I noticed new details. I made new connections. There is an amazing blessing to reading through the Bible systematically. This new way of reading my Bible initiated a time of real spiritual growth growth in my life. In fact, I have been so blessed by the results of reading through my Bible in a year, in a systematic way, that I now wholeheartedly encourage others to do the same thing. It is a wonderful thing. If you haven't tried it yet, you absolutely should start doing it right now. Here are five different options for Bible Reading Plans:
That gives us six different options for using a plan to read through our Bibles this year. If none of these six options suit you, pick a different plan. Search the internet. There are literally dozens of options. If you have a favorite reading plan that I did not include, please do us all a favor and link to it in the comments below! Whatever the case, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly this year. PS--In my next post I will share which of these reading plans I am using this year that I am really excited about.
I was reading in Genesis 6 this morning (as many of you may have been), and ran across these verses: And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. Did it occur to you that this is a very strange thing to read in Genesis 6? If you are following a yearly Bible reading plan, you probably read just yesterday that God created the world and pronounced it all good. A day later, you read that God (this omniscient Being who knows all things from before the foundation of the world) is so perturbed by human sin that He regrets creating the human race and decides to destroy it almost entirely. This is very hard for a reader to understand. I'd like to share with you a quote from a book my husband is writing. God’s regret over man’s sinfulness in Genesis 6:6 does not imply a change in God or that He wished He had done things differently. It simply communicates that God feels in time, when it occurs, what He knew in advance would happen. In other words, God is watching events unfold. He has the ability to be grieved or to rejoice over them. In this passage we hear His cry of grief. When you and I sin, in real time, God (who foreknew each sin of our lives) is grieved over that sin. I was struck with this truth today in a way I never had been before. This would be a sad, discouraging thing for all of us to ponder if the next verse in the passage didn't exist. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Noah obeyed God. The passage says it over and over again. Genesis 6:8-9. Genesis 6:22. Genesis 7:1. Genesis 7:5. Genesis 7:16.
Noah heard the Words of God and obeyed them. And just as God sees our sin in real time and grieves, surely He also sees our obedience and our worship in real time and rejoices. It is a new year. New choices face us. You and I have a choice today. We have a choice to hear the Words of God or not. We have a choice to obey or not. We have a choice to grieve God today. Or bring Him great joy. What will you choose? |
Tim and LauraTimothy and Laura Berrey are missionaries with Gospel Fellowship Association. They share a passion for missions which has taken them to several countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe. They currently minister in the Philippines. Want articles like this delivered to your inbox?
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