Tim Morrow

This past week my grandkids were at our house. My daughter wanted them to recite what they had learned. The two older ones then recited the Lord’s Prayer for myself and grandma. It was wonderful, not only because my grandkids are wonderful, but because they were being grounded in the truths of the Christian faith. My daughter and her husband are being diligent to not only teach the Lord’s Prayer, but all things their children need to know about God, the Bible, and living the Christian life. This should be a priority for every Christian parent and grandparent.

God tells Israel in Deuteronomy 5-7, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house ...” Jesus says to his disciples in Matthew 19:14, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” Then the Apostle Paul reminds us as parents, “... do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”  Scripture throughout is clear of our responsibility as Christian parents and grandparents to teach our children of the faith we have in Jesus.

Remember what we do for our children today will have lasting effects throughout their lives. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” What are ways we can do this you ask? We can teach them things like the Lord’s Prayer, Psalm 23 or the Ten Commandments. We can be regular attenders to a Bible believing church. We can pray with them at home and have devotions with them. But the greatest thing we can do is share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them often. The good news that Jesus Christ, being fully God, came to this earth to die on a cross for our sins. Then on the third rise again. So those who repent of their sins and put their trust in what Jesus did will be saved.

Raising our children and grandchildren to learn about the Lord, and know the Lord personally, is the greatest task we are given as parents and grandparents. Psalm 127:3 says, “Children are a heritage of the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” Let’s commit ourselves today to invest in the most precious thing the Lord has gifted to us ... our kids.

(Tim Morrow is the pastor at New Life Church of Powell.)