The Heart of a Child
Before leaping into the New Year pause and consider your dreams for your child to grow to be a boy or girl of great character, filled with the Fruit of the Spirit. Review the list and consider what ones your child exhibits and what ones need some work. That fruit consists of great qualities (Galatians 5:22-23):
- Love
- Joy
- Peace
- Patience
- Kindness
- Goodness
- Faithfulness
- Gentleness
- Self-control
Ah, that’s an inspiring list! To achieve that, a child needs to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:13). In fact walking in the spirit comes earlier in the same chapter of the Bible.
Think of how a child’s time spent in games spills out in their words and actions. Their time investment shapes their hearts and minds. So, too, time invested with God will be reflected in their words and actions and change their hearts. If you put nothing into faith development, then faith will not develop. Here are a few ideas to help your child walk with God more:
Decorate and fill a spiritual treasure box. Encourage your child to fill it with items that reflect what they learn from the Bible:
- Lock of hair or feather because God cares for them even more than the birds (Matthew 10:29-31)
- Colorful object as a reminder of the rainbow in Genesis 9:13-17
- Trace their hand for them to write actions to do to serve others (Matthew 20:26 and Galatians 5:13)
- A photo of your child with paper hands hugging it as a reminder that God loves him or her.
Put up a prayer board to write prayers and add how God answers each one
Pray before leaving home each day for God’s protection. Praise God in prayer each evening to thank Him for blessings sent and for being with them during struggles.
Study a Bible passage each week and do activities related to the passage (books like 52 Weekly Devotions for Busy Families make it easy and fun). Make it fun and be enthusiastic.
Invest time in God to nurture faith in children, build character, and instill a biblical worldview. Make a commitment to schedule daily time with your child and God. It won’t simply happen. It takes work, but it will be worth the effort.
Blessings,
