My wife, Jean, and I took doing devotions with our boys seriously throughout their childhood. Along the way, we discovered that “serious” didn’t have to mean “boring.” We also learned that there was no one “right way” for passing our faith on to our children.
Jean preferred formal times of Scripture reading and devotion. Her degree is in biochemistry, so it fit her personality to whip up a lesson with the creativity and skill of a schoolteacher. My boys always responded well to that. As for me, I’m spontaneous and loose. I chatted with my boys about the Bible when we were engaged in everyday activities.
There are a lot of ways to go about it, but one thing is clear: it’s not wise to relinquish such an important responsibility to the Church alone. Sunday school teachers and youth leaders are passionate folks who strive to augment your child’s spiritual education, but research consistently shows that the number one influence on spiritual development is you, Mom and Dad.
That said, you may feel like many parents who contact Focus on the Family: ill-equipped to teach their children about God and the Bible. That’s why I’ve invited author Champ Thornton to join me on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly to help you and your children discover fresh ways to engage your faith and deepen your understanding of the Bible.
Champ uses helpful illustrations to communicate his ideas. Like Galileo’s telescope, which serves as an example of how we can learn to see and understand the Bible clearly. Galileo’s first prototype utilized two lenses that allowed him to see craters on the moon and four of Jupiter’s moons, but the images were so blurry and distorted that their richness was lost. One hundred fifty years later, an English optician added a third lens and suddenly everything snapped into focus.
Champ shares how viewing life through three different lenses reveals truth to us:
• Window. Like glass we see through, stories in the Bible are windows that help us see how God is at work in our lives.
• Stained glass. While we can’t see through stained glass, the mosaic of colors shapes a bigger story.
• Mirror. The Bible helps us see ourselves for who we really are: our fears, doubt, pride, sin,and our need for salvation.