Home And The Bible
In the past few weeks, our studies in Mark have taken us to the family matters of marriage and children. The timing may seem odd for us since most of us are beyond the years of children in the home where we raise them and give them our guidance. Though my children left the home years ago, I am legitimately concerned by the amount of biblical teaching my grandchildren receive. If I can help in that process, I want to be of as much use as I can. I believe our practices here at Berean concerning God’s word are good models to use in the home. If you can pass these along for use with your grandchildren, you can maintain the good influence you would like to have. I appreciate these pointers from a recent article I read on Ligonier.org that paralleled much of what I preached from our pulpit.
I believe the first practice that will help us is to encourage the reading of the entire Bible. Many parents buy their children Bible story books which is not a bad practice, but it is not where you want to leave them once they are old enough to learn more. However, many adults keep the same practice in their adult years. They always gravitate to familiar passages such as Old Testament stories, the Gospel adventures, or well-travelled scriptures on favorite doctrines. We avoid this in the Berean pulpit ministry by using verse by verse exposition. We cover every scripture without avoiding the more difficult portions of the word.
Another good practice is praying through the Bible. Our congregational readings take us through varied portions of the Bible. After we read our selection, we consider parts of the readings in our prayers and ask God to fulfill its various meanings in us. This causes us to contemplate scriptures, to meditate on them, and take them deeper into our souls for sincere guidance.
I would be remiss not to insist that hearing the word of God preached is critical for our sanctification. We should take children to church for regular instruction in the Word and its application in everyday life. For this to be effective, we must live the word in the presence of our children. Hypocrisy will turn them away. What does not work for us is not likely to convince them the Bible is the best path for them. It reminds me of our discussion in Deuteronomy 6 and the quotation of the shema. Moses commanded Israel to keep the commandments of God always on their minds by talking about them in the home, discussing them when away from the home, and speaking of them in all of life’s activities.
I remember the example of my parents when I was a child. Every Sunday we had an hour and a half trip to church and the same time returning afterwards. My sister and I often fought in the back seat, but we also had plenty of times of singing and rehearsing the stories we heard. I can confidently say out of our constant practice of reading, singing, and praying the word, we learned the grand objective: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” This is what it takes for the word to be more than external. It becomes internal and takes its place in our heart.
Pastor V. Mark Smith