Too often we outsource the education of our families. We allow the Television, tablets, schools, and churches to take the lead in developing the minds and actions of our spouses and our children. While there is nothing wrong with using these as tools in education, if they are a leader and not a partner something is wrong.
Each of us must take responsibility for educating the members of our household. We must make firm and consistent efforts to develop and cultivate the minds of those that are in our family. We must take intentional steps to guide the thinking of our spouse and our children in ways that are God honoring and kingdom focused. As a result, we must take concrete steps to invest the Bible into our family.
Making an investment of the Scriptures into your family is a major commitment, but it also provides the greatest benefit long term. Proverbs 22:6 states "Teach a youth about the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." While this is not an eternal trust but rather a statement of consistent fact, the value of investing the Scriptures in your children is immeasurable. The fact that failing to instruct a child in the proper ways will lead to destruction cannot be ignored as the inverse of this proverb either. The Psalmist would write in Psalm 119:11 "I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You." Only by investing the Scriptures into our own lives, the lives of our spouse, and the lives of our children can we truly understand what living in right relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ is all about.
Psalm 19 is one of my favorite psalms in all the Scriptures. From this Psalm we discover a number of benefits that come from a faithful investment of the Scriptures. Psalm 19 affirms that the Lord's instructions bring renewal to our life, joy, proper understanding for daily living, a correct perspective of who God is and what he has done, and warning for the dangers that can take our life off track. Surely there is great benefit in investing the Scriptures in your family.
So how do we make this investment? I want to offer some concrete steps to assist you as you invest in your family with the Bible.
1. Be consistent. The greatest tool you have for investing is consistency. Create a plan that you can stick with and stick with it. Your family will benefit more from discovering the Scriptures one chapter at a time with you each day than they will reading one book of the Bible together once a month.
2. Keep it simple. Do not seek to make your investment more complicated than it has to be. Complexity often makes the water muddy and clouds the priority of your investment in your family.
3. Start today. The best time to start investing is today. Think about your investment of the Scriptures and begin with your family today.
Finally, I want to offer some basic instructions for investing in your family.
1. Use a Bible. Many people start using devotionals and the like without ever actually using the Bible to invest with. We commit to reading books about the Bible while the Bible is neglected. Use a Bible.
2. Read the Scriptures together. Now if you have small children this may not be possible yet, but as soon as they are able begin allowing them to take time reading and discussing the text with you and your spouse.
3. Ask questions. Life change comes from applying the Scriptures to our lives. We not only need to know that God created the world, but we need to know why this matters and what difference it should make in our lives. Questions are our friends to aid in discovery.
4. Add Bible study resources. As you read add coloring sheets for small children, age appropriate Bible study handouts, teaching pictures, a Bible handbook, or a good single volume commentary to your study together. Many churches have these materials in abundance. All you need to do is ask your pastor or Sunday school teacher about them.
5. Live what you learn. As you invest in your family, you must live our what you are learning. Your cannot teach your family the value of integrity from the Scriptures and then live dishonestly. You cannot teach your family the importance of purity in your walk with God and then engage in immoral behavior. You cannot teach your family the importance of community in the Christian faith, and then never attend church with them. Your life must model what you teach. As your invest in the Scriptures not only will your family dynamic change, but your life should change as well.
Start Investing and begin to enjoy the dividends that an investment of the Bible in your family can produce.
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