The greatest legacy you can leave your child is not money or a house, jewellery, shares or the family business; it’s not even a good education, much as I am a firm proponent of excellent education. Your greatest legacy will be your ability to pass on your faith to your children. Generational faith is intentional, not accidental. It has nothing to do with passing on a family religion. It is about transmitting the pursuit of a living, breathing relationship with God to our children. So what can you do to raise children who love God passionately? I would like to share a few thoughts with you.
Model the pursuit of God for them
Let your children observe you following God passionately. Faith is caught, not just taught. You can’t give what you don’t have. You cannot lead your children to drink from a stream you have not drunk from. Passing on a legacy of faith starts with your personal relationship with God. If you are not sold out in your relationship with God, you will not be able to inspire your children to a higher level of commitment to Him. In 2 Timothy 1:5, Paul makes reference to the generational faith which Timothy had received when he says, ‘I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also’. Your faith must take up permanent residence in your heart in order for it to be transmittable. It can’t be an on and off thing. Authentic faith is contagious. When your children see you making God your top priority in life, it stirs them up to do the same.
Help them fall in love with God’s word
We have a responsibility as parents to help our children cherish God’s word from an early age. This presupposes that we have a love of God’s word ourselves. In Deuteronomy 6:6-7 God commands us to internalise His word first and then impart it to our children. ‘Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children.’ God’s word is the foundational way God speaks to His children. When you teach your children to love God’s word and refer to it for answers, you are setting them up to be stable, confident Christians who know what they believe and why. In 2 Timothy 3:15, Paul gives further insight into how his protégé, Timothy, became a God-chaser. ‘You have been taught the Holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus’. Timothy’s mother and grandmother took it upon themselves to teach him God’s word from childhood. As soon as your children begin to speak, they are old enough to begin to learn God’s word, first by speaking it and later by reading it themselves. Make God’s word fun for them. Let them learn it in rhymes, games, stories and songs. Find them age-appropriate devotionals and help them develop a daily habit of studying and memorising God’s word. They will not forget it, even when they are grown up.
Don’t just pray for them, pray with them
Teaching your children to be prayerful is pivotal to them developing a vibrant relationship with God. They need to be aware that they cannot effectively do life without involving God in everything they do. Let them hear you pray for them and also give them the opportunity to develop in prayer. Prayer is one of those things that you learn by practice, not just theory. One of the practices which has been such a blessing in our family is to involve everyone in family prayers. From when our girls were young, during our family prayers each of us would pray out loud in turn, starting from the youngest to the oldest. We still maintain that practice and it has been a great blessing because not only have our girls learnt practically, from listening to us, how to pray; we have also been encouraged to witness their spiritual development and to see how their prayers have evolved over the years. We hear in their prayers what they care about as they intercede for persecuted Christians across the globe or lift up people they know who are facing difficult times. It also teaches them that prayer works, as they can testify when they receive answers to prayers.
Prioritise participating in a church family
We should never make the mistake of thinking that our whole duty as Christian parents is fulfilled by shepherding our children to church. Attending church does not make you a devoted follower of Christ any more than going to a hospital makes you a doctor. Nevertheless, spending time with other believers worshipping God is one of the key elements of a vibrant relationship with God. If your children frequently observe you passing up opportunities to participate in church life because you are too tired, too busy or would rather be watching the football game, they quickly come to the conclusion that church is an optional thing which you do if you feel like it. If God is not a priority for you, don’t expect your children to believe you when you say He should be for them.
Recognise that their journey will be different from yours
Don’t try to make your children follow in the footsteps of your walk with God. God has a journey for them which is unique to them. Your goal should not be to reproduce yourself in your children, but to help them discover the uniqueness of their own personal relationship with God. Part of the joy of knowing God is the journey of self-discovery He takes us, helping us recognise our own gifts and purpose in life. Let your children find their own unique expression of faith in God. By all means give them guidance but let them choose their own worship music, devotionals, books and favourite preachers. Teach them to identify scripturally balanced teaching for themselves. The goal is for them to develop an individual, personalised walk with God that will outlast the time they spend under your roof. They need to own their own relationship with God.
Read the concluding part of this article, Raising children who are passionate about God.
I would love to hear from you. What practices have been helpful to you in developing your children spiritually? Share your thoughts with me on Facebook or Twitter and encourage someone else.
