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As we teach our children the Scripture during family devotions, we must not miss the main point, which is the gospel, the good news of God’s redeeming plan through Christ. The Bible isn’t merely a book of character-building stories to orient a child’s moral compass; rather, it uncovers our spiritual bankruptcy before a holy God and reveals our wonderful Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

While the gospel is central, there’s a reason the Bible isn’t a four-point salvation presentation in tract form. We ought not to ignore any of God-breathed Scripture, all of which is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17, ESV). Even the genealogies, long and tedious as they can be, show the authenticity of the Bible’s history and the faithfulness of God in preserving the line of Christ.

Law, history, poetry, and prophecy in the Old Testament also serve a purpose.

Law

Passages on the law of God point our children to God’s perfection, our inability to meet God’s righteous demands, and the Lamb of God, who perfectly fulfilled the law and shed His blood for our sin “that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24 NKJV). God gives new hearts so believers have the power to obey the imperatives given in the New Testament (1 John 2:3–4, 3:9).

History

The historical books in the Bible dramatically tell our children the story line of redemption, as each character and every event bring us closer to the climax of Christ’s coming. The New Testament writers demonstrated how the Old Testament characters showed our need for Jesus and salvation by faith:

• Adam and Eve: Romans 5:12–21
• Cain and Abel: Hebrews 11:4
• Noah: Hebrews 11:7
• Abraham: Galatians 3
• Moses: Romans 10:5–10
• David: Acts 2:25–36

Poetry

The Bible’s unsurpassed poetry reveals God’s character and works. The worshipful psalms and instructive proverbs teach our children the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10). Such reverence should drive them to be reconciled with God through the cross. On the cross, the sinless Christ bore our sin and then rose from the dead in victory over sin and death, granting eternal life to all who turn to Him in repentance and faith.

Prophecy

Reading the books of prophecy with our children reveals man’s stony heart and need for God to give a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). This regeneration was made possible through the perfect life, death, and resurrection of the Messiah. Detailed prophecies pinpointed the person and work of Christ, hundreds of years before He fulfilled them.

As we engage our children in family devotions, we must remember that our children aren’t born with neutral hard drives that simply need to be programmed with the right software. They’re born with the deadly virus of a sin nature passed on from our first father Adam. That’s why Jesus said we must be born again (John 3:3–8).

We can’t cause this change of heart in our children, so that they repent and believe in the Lord Jesus. But we can be faithful to pray for them and teach them through family devotions, so that they when they’re grown, we can remind them of their biblical heritage (2 Timothy 3:14–15).

May the Lord grant us grace in the task of family discipleship. What a privilege we parents have to lead our little ones to the Savior!

Read the previous family devotions posts.

Here are my previous posts in this series on family devotions:

• The Case for Family Devotions
• The Structure of Family Devotions
• The Structure of Family Devotions (continued)
• Overcoming Obstacles to Family Devotions

Let’s look at some additional obstacles to having regular family worship and consider ways to overcome them.

Bad Attitudes

Set an example of a thankful attitude—we get to worship God; it’s not something we have to do. As parents, we must quickly recognize when we have a bad attitude ourselves and repent of it before the family. Perhaps my bad attitude is even a reaction to my child’s bad attitude, but that doesn’t absolve me of my responsibility to walk in the Spirit and bear His fruit (Galatians 5:16–26).

When dealing with a bad attitude, ask yourself questions like the following, and encourage your children to do the same.

• “Do I have a right to be upset?” (Genesis 4:6–7; Jonah 4:9).
• “If God were here (and He is), would I want to be acting this way in front of Him?”
• “Am I trusting the sovereignty of God, knowing that He is in control of how things are going today?”
• “Is there a sin in my attitude or response that I need to repent of?”
• “How can I rejoice, pray, and give thanks in this situation?” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18).

From the Old Testament stories of complaining Israelites in the wilderness and God’s promise to replace hearts of stone with hearts of flesh to the New Testament epistles with instruction for Christian living, Scripture addresses wrong attitudes head-on. Simply reading through the Bible will give plenty of opportunities to teach about how to receive a new heart through salvation and how to maintain a pleasing attitude toward the Lord.

Disinterest

Have realistic expectations regarding attention spans. A toddler sitting for ten minutes is impressive. If the older children are ready for a twenty-minute family time, perhaps you can give the toddler a book or some toys to play with quietly in the same room.

Be creative in keeping the children interested in devotions, perhaps occasionally livening things up with pictures, puppets, skits, object lessons, or coloring. The Bible communicates truth creatively (think of Christ’s parables), and so can we. Encourage the older children to think of ways to capture the interest of the younger ones. Involve older children in the reading, and challenge them through lively discussions.

Help Needed

The wife can be her husband’s helpmeet as he shepherds the family spiritually by being his cheerleader and giving words or notes of encouragement. She can ask her husband for specific ways she can help. By managing the household well, she can ensure that family devotions aren’t crowded out by the hectic pace of life (Titus 2:4–5).

Since the mother generally spends more time with the children than the father does, she can reinforce the family devotions by Deuteronomy 6 teaching at opportune moments. She can also help the little ones get up to speed for family Bible reading by telling them Bible stories with pictures.

If a godly father isn’t present to lead the family spiritually, God can still use her alone, as He did Timothy’s mother and grandmother, to teach the life-giving Scriptures, which lead to salvation through faith in Christ (Acts 16:1; 2 Timothy 1:5; 3:14–15).

Stay tuned for the final post in this series. We’ll talk about how to not miss the main point in family devotions.

“What a delicious feast you made us, Mommy!”
“Yes, thank you very much, Mom. I’ll help wash the dishes, but first, Dad, can we do our family worship time?”
“Yes, can we? I love family devotions!”

Sorry, but that’s not my family. Our Bible time rarely goes without at least one child complaining, interrupting, or trying hard to get away with the least participation possible. Sulking, slouching, and mumbled answers are common. Will we outgrow this stage? I sure hope so, but I grew up in a family that consistently practiced devotions, and often I was less than enthusiastic about the “interruption” in my day when Dad called us together.

In Part 1 of this series, I made the case for why family worship is important. In Part 2 and Part 3, I shared my view of the basic structure of family devotions. Now in Parts 4 and 5, I want to focus on some common impediments to Bible time and discuss possible ways to overcome them.

Hostile Hearts

We must realize that our children are not born with hearts that seek God; on the contrary, our natural hearts are hostile toward God (Romans 3:11, 8:7). Unless all your children have been born again, view family devotions as an evangelistic work and expect opposition. As with other spiritual battles, you will need to fight with prayer (Ephesians 6:10-20).

Busyness

Are we really too busy? It comes down to priorities. We make time for regular mealtimes with our children to feed our bodies. We can make time to feed our souls (1 Peter 2:2). It might take some adjustment of the schedule or cutting out other activities, but my husband and I have found that if we make it a priority, we can carve out ten to thirty minutes for our family devotions.

As Scot Chadwick points out, “The root problem and solution is our personal devotion to God: How must we grow in love, affection, and worship of our great God? The truth is that we do what is important to us, for good or for bad. Let us prove our love of God in the practice of our devotion, particularly in family worship.”

Inconsistency

Many families may find that it’s easy to get started doing family worship, but it can be a challenge to keep the initial enthusiasm from petering out or the demands of the day from interrupting. One answer is to schedule a regular time for family devotions, a time that isn’t easily missed, such as first thing in the morning, right after supper, or just before bed. That way the children come to expect family worship, if not anticipate it.

When I was a child, Bible time was before Dad went to work. With our family now, my husband typically leads devotions right after dinner while we’re all still at the table, after the food is put away but before the dishes are done. This way the family is already together (rather than having to chase down the younger ones or wait for older children to drag themselves in), plus the little ones are safely contained in highchairs.

In Part 5, I’ll talk about other obstacles to family devotions, such as dealing with bad attitudes. In the comments section, I’d love to hear how your family has maintained consistency and overcome obstacles in family worship.

What has your family done to establish a consistent family devotions routine?

In Part 1, we looked at why family worship is important. In Part 2, we introduced three elements you may want to include in your devotions—reading, praying, and singing.

Since we covered reading Scripture in Part 2, let’s look into the other two aspects of devotions today.

Praying

Prayer time is an opportunity for our children to see the living relationship we have with God that is made possible through the work of Christ on the cross. As a family, we can praise Him for His attributes and works, repent of our sins, present our requests, and thank Him for all things. It is also a time when we can work out any family disputes, making sure we are right with one another as well as with the Lord (Hebrews 3:13). One dad in our church says he likes to pray at the beginning and the end of family time as a reminder of our dependence on God because only He can work in our children’s hearts.

Memory Work

Before prayer time, our family does some memory work with Scripture verses and Bible questions and answers. It is an interactive way to involve our children and help them hide God’s Word and theological truths in their hearts. Our family uses the three-booklet set Truth and Grace Memory Books by Thomas K. Ascol. Another option is the BJU Press Bible Truths series that includes memory work and Bible Truths for Christian Growth. If your children enjoy learning online or with a mobile device, you may want to check out the New City Catechism, which includes engaging videos from well-known Christian leaders. With the various catechism options, you can check with your pastor about one that lines up with your church doctrine.

Singing

Ending family worship with singing joins our hearts and voices in praise of our great God and Savior (Colossians 3:16). It lifts our hearts and focuses our minds on biblical truths. Consider including a few Sunday school songs for the little ones as well as songs you sing during your church worship service.

Our two-year-old often asks to sing “Deep and Wide” and even though I can’t discern any clear Scriptural connection to that song (it may be referencing John 4:14), we sing it every now and then for his enjoyment. He also loves “I May Never March in the Infantry” and other action songs, so we try to include those along with great hymns of the faith.

I hope the ideas I’ve presented so far have helped you begin or even rethink your family’s devotion time. My next post will talk about overcoming any obstacles you may encounter during your family’s devotions.

Do you have an order that your family’s devotion time follows? How do you encourage your children to memorize Scripture and other biblical truths?

In Part 1 of this series, we discussed the importance of family devotions. Now we will consider how you can implement family worship in your home. My husband and I picked up some ideas last year at a family worship workshop at our church, and this encouragement and instruction reignited our own time of family devotions. Reading scripture is a crucial element to effective family devotional times.

Each family has freedom on how to structure their worship time since there is no biblical mandate, but here are three elements you’ll probably want to include.

1. Reading
2. Praying
3. Singing

What to Read—Scripture

What should you read? All kinds of devotional books are available, but it’s best to focus on the actual Word of God—from Genesis to Revelation. Telling your kids to trust God and treasure His Word, but then only reading children’s story Bibles or never reading more than the Proverbs or New Testament sends a conflicting message. How can they know God if their knowledge of Him is limited?

Why to Read Scripture—Some Reasons

The Bible has no parallel because no other book is inspired by God Himself (2 Timothy 3:16). No other book “is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit” (Hebrews 4:12 NKJV). The Scriptures are life-giving, pointing to Christ: “From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15 NKJV).

Teach children that God’s Word is to be trusted and man’s word doubted. Even our own hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). We should always measure what we think, read, or hear by the Bible. Our children should expect us to back up what we say with well-interpreted Scripture (2 Timothy 2:15). When we ask them questions during Bible time, we occasionally follow up on their answers with, “How did you get that from the text?” In this way, we’re sharpening a biblical worldview and proper Bible interpretation.

How to Read Scripture—Some Suggestions

One family in our church had the goal of reading through the entire Bible. They made a timeline chart with a reward promised at the end. The kids would check off passages as they went, reminding each other if they were getting behind. When they successfully finished after about eighteen months, they had an ice cream party to celebrate, but everybody agreed that reading the Word all the way through would have been reward enough. Now this family is reading at a slower pace, picking different Old and New Testament books to study in depth.

Our family has been going through a reading plan called “100 Essential Bible Passages.”  Since our children are younger, we’ve enjoyed hitting these highlights, and we plan to read them again in more detail at a later time.

At some point you may decide to go beyond reading and introduce your children to the three basic steps of biblical hermeneutics: observation, interpretation, and application. Help your children observe the text by asking questions about the “Five Ws” (who, what, when, where, and  why). Their interpretation of a passage should not be based on “What does this text mean to me?” but “What does it mean?” Study with them so that they learn to discern what the writer was communicating to the original audience. Especially consider the context and relevant cross-references to compare Scripture with Scripture. For the application step, ask questions like, “How does this passage apply to our lives today?”

In Part 3, we will continue with the other two main aspects of family worship (praying and singing).

What have you found helpful when teaching your children about worship? How do you help them apply Scripture to their lives?