Return to the M.B. Herald Vol. 35, No. 12
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"Can I take my new Bible to school for show and tell tomorrow?"
I was floored and thrilled all at the same time. I was floored by her boldness, and I was thrilled that in spite of my faults and shortcomings at family devotions, she had learned to appreciate the Word of God. As I thought back over the time our little foster girl had been with us, I realized that even though we had missed family devotions at times, she had regularly seen my wife and me reading our own Bibles. She had seen and heard us talk about the Bible together. She knew that I take my Bible to work with me. She knew the way we treat our own Bibles with awe and respect. I thanked God that our little eight-year-old had been paying attention.
There's a neat passage tucked away in the middle of Deuteronomy chapter 6 that gives a very descriptive glimpse into the way God meant the Bible to be a part of family life:
"And these words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart:
And you shall teach them diligently to your children,
and shall talk of them when you sit in your house
and when you walk by the way
and when you lie down
and when you rise up.
And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand,
and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
God said that His words were to be alive in three ways in the Israelite home:
They shall be on your heart.
Chuck was in the car with his seven-year-old son Robbie. To Chuck's pleasure, the conversation turned to one of the choruses Robbie liked in Sunday school, "Trust and Obey". As they were discussing the words of the chorus, Robbie happened to look over at the speedometer.
"Wow, Dad! This is neat! I've never been this fast before. How come we're allowed to go this fast here?"
Robbie had asked the question innocently, but Chuck, feeling just a touch hypocritical about his "Trust and Obey" lecture, was stuck for an answer.
Our children can spot it a mile away when our words and our actions don't match. That's why the first thing God tells us about teaching our children His Word is that it has to be firmly anchored in our own heart<209>we have to be living it.
You shall teach them.
Erma has the unique opportunity of babysitting her four-year-old grandaughter during the day. Her other great joy is a large vegetable garden. I don't know how often I've pulled into the driveway at Erma's and spotted the little girl and her grandmother standing in the garden, looking at a plant and talking about God.
God makes it clear that in family life there are no "sacred times". Sure, when you're having family devotions, you don't want the television on, but there isn't a 15-minute chunk of spiritual time every day that is sanctified for the purpose of talking about God. Compartmentalizing spiritual discussions to preselected times can be dangerous. God told the Israelite parents: "When you're at home working, when you're walking along the road, when you wake up in the morning, when you go to bed at night--all the time--you are to be thinking about God and talking to your children about God."
It's not that we are to talk about God continuously all day, but we are to think about God all day. And when appropriate moments, teachable moments, arise during the day, we are to seize them and make use of them.
One of the fondest memories I have of home life is of one of those teachable moments. When I was still just perfecting my reading skills, I remember sitting at the kitchen table reading the Bible to my mother while she did the dishes at the kitchen sink. I was learning to read, she was doing the dishes, and we were both spending time in the Word: She could easily comment, question me or answer my questions as we read together.
Are you not only looking for but also even planning those teachable moments?
You shall write them.
My wife and I have some good friends that we visit once in a while. One of the things I particularly enjoy is the selection of Christian magazines which they receive. Inevitably at some point during the evening I end up in the easy chair, with my feet on the coffee table, looking through the current month's selection of Christian magazines (usually to the dismay of my wife, who finds the practice a little antisocial). I remember popping in one weekend and discovering that the usual assortment of Christian magazines had been replaced by slightly more secular reading materials--nothing objectionable, but nothing Christian. After a little bit of digging, I found the Christian magazines at the bottom of the pile. Apparently the teens of the house had had some non-Christian friends over and they had felt a little uneasy about being too "visible" with their faith. I chuckled as I looked over at the piano and saw the assortment of Bibles and hymnbooks clearly displayed there. In spite of their attempts, they hadn't quite managed to "hide their faith".
How easy is it to hide your faith in your home? Are the Bibles and hymnbooks and Christian magazines neatly tucked away somewhere, or are they everywhere? Are there Bible verses on your wall? The way you either hide the Word of God or put it in evidence in your home tells your children (and their friends) a lot about the way you feel about your faith and about God's Word. You must show your children that it is normal to have the Word of God in evidence in your home and that discussing it publicly is normal and desirable.
God commanded Israelite parents to put the words of God in evidence in their homes--and not just anywhere. The words weren't to be posted on the inside of the closet door. The words of God were to be on the doorpost. Even more obvious that that, they were to be posted on the gate in front of the house so that as people drew near, they would know that this house was a home that revered the Word of God. Is your home such a place? Can people tell?
The Word of God should take its rightful place in your home. If it is to do so, you must do three things: Live it. Teach it. Show it.
Joel Coppieters lives in Farnham, Que.
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