Parents’ most basic task is to teach their children that God loves them, and therefore they should love God. Jesus said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).
“Foremost” (Greek, protos) literally means “first.” This was not the first command God gave chronologically, for it appears in Deuteronomy 6, nearly forty years after the initial giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai. It is “first” in preeminence, since it is at the core of all proper religious duties toward God and man.
All religious actions, however great and sacrificial, is “nothing” without love (1 Cor. 13:1-3). The essence of right religion is a right, loving relationship with the Creator and Ruler of the universe. God is the ultimate relationship our children need more than anything else in eternity. The parent’s goal is to help them grow up and develop their own loving devotion to the Lord. Without developing personal love for God Himself, our children face the danger of going through the motions of “rote” religion (cf. Isaiah 29:13). Secularism will fill the void and they’ll sit like zombies in the teen Bible class. Learning God’s love is the only thing we can give them that will go with them forever. We have only one opportunity to discharge this sacred trust.
1. Teaching Our Children that God Loves Them. An elderly farmer in rural middle Tennessee once told me about the “hell, fire and brimstone preaching” he heard as a young boy. He said that sometimes the preaching scared him so badly that he would go home, hide under his bed sheets, and literally shake in terror of God! Do we convey to our children that God is a hard-to-please tyrant, who can’t wait to pounce on us?
Children should learn about personal responsibility, the holiness and justice of God, and the concept of personal sin in rebelling against God’s will (Rom. 3:8; 6:23; 14:21). However, the silver lining of the whole Bible is God’s unfathomable love offered to the unlovely (Ex. 34:6-7). He has loved us “with an everlasting love” (Jer. 31:3). The shining, central essence of God’s character is love (1 John 4:8). “Love” (Greek, agape) is active, sacrificial and redemptive goodwill. God unconditionally loves us, in spite of ourselves. There is nothing that we can do to cause God to love us any less. All of his saving actions toward man can be explained by the one word “love.”
God’s love us ever waiting to receive us to himself, as Jesus taught in the parable of the forgiving father (Luke 15). I know of one young man, who has left the faith, who claims that he never heard growing up a lesson specifically on John 3:16, which is often called the “Golden Text of the Bible.” This isn’t a “Baptist verse” but a Bible verse we need to teach our children that “God so loved the world” and that “whosoever” means them!
God’s love is our child’s only hope to be saved in heaven at last. Each child bears the image of God. Each one is special and precious to God. He loves everyone more that we can ever know or imagine. He gave the dearest and best He had, His beloved Son Jesus, to endure the gruesome ordeal of the cross for all our sins. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Justice demands the guilty be punished. Yet, love intervenes and graciously offers salvation by substitution to uphold both the holiness and mercy of God. He moved heaven and earth so we all can be at home with Him forever.
Our children need to see the difference God’s love has made in our lives. His love gives hope for tomorrow, joy in living, and peace in problems.
Also, it’s been observed that a child’s concept of God begins to form based on their concept of their parent. That is, if we mirror divine love in our relation to them by showing them unconditional love, patience, kindness and understanding, this makes it easier for them to understand what God’s love for them is like (Prov. 4:3-4).
2. Teaching our Children to Love God’s Person Supremely. In truly appreciating all God’s love has done for us, a child’s love for God is awakened. “We love, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We love Him for He is altogether lovely. Some people serve God lovingly (I want to). Others serve Him grudgingly (I have to). Do we act like serving God is a big inconvenience? Do our children see us loving God more than our paychecks, careers, or creature comforts? Do we act like God gave us a bunch of harsh rules to make our lives miserable? Do we grump and growl on our way to church Sunday, and then paste on that fake smile when we hit the parking lot?
Loving God is not a free ride but entails the glad privilege to obey His will. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3; cf. Deut. 10:15-16). The commands of God “are for our good always” (Deut. 6:24). He wants to protect us from evil and to train us in righteousness. We love to study His will (Psalm 119:97). Let’s talk up the happy privilege of Bible study and worship! As our children see us lovingly obey the Lord in every aspect of life, they will see this as the desirable way of life.
Our children need to see us serving God as our great labor of love, as the central commitment of our existence. We can only lead them where we ourselves have gone.
- The Preceptor, April 1996