If someone were to ask you how your children would know you were a Christian, how would you answer them? Try some of these possible responses on for size…

• I go to church every Sunday and take them to Sunday school.
• We say grace at meals.
• I teach a Sunday school class.
• I sing in the choir.
• I put money in the offering plate every Sunday.

All of the above are good, but they lack an important ingredient. They don’t include sharing your faith directly with your children. Deuteronomy 11:19 instructs parents to “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (NIV) “Them” in this verse refers to the Lord’s commandments.

Note that this verse does not say to take your child to a good teacher. Parents are the first and most important teacher children will ever have, whether the teaching works for good or for ill. When your actions are supported with discussions about why you feel God leading you to do one thing or another, your children will be able to connect your faith with your actions and your faith will be seen as real. Otherwise they may one day decide you were “playing church” and that your faith was not real.

Family devotions are one way parents become involved in faith building with their children. There are many good resources available at your Christian bookstore or online. Some use traditional methods for devotions, while others encourage a serendipity approach where discussions come naturally out of planned family activities. Or you may choose to do your own thing by discussing passages of scripture with your children and sharing what they mean to you. The most important thing is that you and your children are growing together and developing faith that has eternal benefits.

by Janice D. Green, author of The Creation and The First Christmas