By Sandra Bost
Resurrection Sunday was last week. We didn’t get to be with all of our children, but we celebrated with my daddy and our daughter’s family. His fiancée had access to a bunny costume, so while she was planning the surprise, Popa sat the great-grandbabies down to talk about Jesus.
He started with the question, “What do we celebrate today?” To which he was promptly met with, “It’s the day Jesus arose!” He prodded a little deeper, and to his delight, his 3, 5, and 6-year-old great-grandbabies had all of the answers. They were eager to tell him that Jesus died for the bad stuff we have all done, bringing a chuckle from the parents when Middle confessed that she has taken things that don’t belong to her.
At the end of the story, Popa was able to encourage his little crowns (see Proverbs 17:6) to let Jesus be their Boss and live their lives in a way that lets their Light shine for Him. Middle gave him another chuckle with her rendition of “This Little Light of Mine.” It was a Holy moment.
As we were preparing to leave though, I was talking to our daughter about how wonderful it was that her babies know the resurrection story so well. Her response gave me lots to ponder and something to write about.
For background, she and her husband serve on the worship team and in the children’s department at their church. As such, they are there nearly every time the doors are opened. On top of that, they have homeschooled Big and Middle with a Bible based curriculum.
While we were talking about how much the kids know about the Bible, my girl shared a concern: maybe it’s too much. She described the eye-rolls and reluctant sighs that come periodically during Sunday School and bedtime Bible stories. She wondered if it was possible to push the Good news so much that it could lose its impact.
Immediately, my defenses went up. I have walked with Jesus long enough to recognize the doubt and guilt that the Accuser loves to stir up in a mother’s heart. I quickly spouted off all of the scriptures I could think of about training up our children, namely Deuteronomy 6:7 which says: “Impress [the commandments] on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (NIV). Literally everywhere. At all times. I also remembered Romans 10:17 that talks about how Faith grows in hearts and minds when we hear the Word of God.
On top of that, I tried to encourage her with the simple Truth that the most important job we have as parents is to make sure that our children come to know Jesus in a real, personal way, and that part of that is living out the scriptures daily. Taking our children to church–where they hear the wonderful news of Jesus, see His Love in action through others, and grow alongside friends who love Him–is one way we live out the scriptures as parents. However, perhaps the most important way is by living out the grace and commandments of Jesus transparently in our home, showing them that our Faith is just as real in the living room as it is in the sanctuary.
She knows all of those things. Does all of those things. It was just that little moment of doubt that “Ol’ Slewfoot” (as my childhood pastor used to call him) opportunistically dropped in her mind on a difficult day. To push back against that whisper (that feels like a shout when you are in the throws of mothering little ones), I went home and started digging deeper into why it matters so much that we “bombard” our kids with gospel-centered teaching while they are little, because doubt always shrinks when it’s met with Truth.
The only Truth needed, of course, is because God said it. But in this information-overload-of-a-world in which my kids are raising their kids, I love how our God is so omnipotent and thoughtful–knowing that on our difficult days, we might need to see He has authority over every discipline. He is the Master Architect of the sciences that we are only just beginning to decode. So when we see science align with Scripture, it isn’t ‘proof’ of God’s Word; it’s simply a witness to the brilliance of His design.
Science calls children “meaning-making Machines” (Gopnik, The Philosophical Baby), and research shows their worldview is locked in before they hit puberty (Barna, Raising Spiritual Champions). But, I call it God’s brilliant design–He wired the prefrontal cortex of a 5-year-old to be a sponge for Truth so that, when raised in Jesus, the world’s noise doesn’t get the first word.
There is also current research in epigenetics that suggests that “hearing and hearing” can lead to biological embedding where a child’s environment actually influences how their genes are expressed in response to stress later in life. This emphasizes the importance of “hearing the Word of God” in a gospel-centered environment. God really is omnipotent over biology!
When I asked Gemini to give me examples of the importance of “teaching children scripture daily” I was bombarded with so. Much. information. There are studies after studies that support what God told our forefathers to do in Deuteronomy: integrate Faith into everyday moments–all day.
I believe God because He is God. But I’m grateful He made the world in such a way that even the ‘facts’ have to bow to His Truth. It’s a great way to quiet that Ol’ Slewfoot doubt by showing my girl (and mommas everywhere) that the Creator of her children’s prefrontal cortex is also the Shepherd of their souls. She may feel like she’s just ‘bombarding’ them with noise on the hard days, but God is using that Holy noise to build a fortress.
So, let the kids roll their eyes, Friends, but whatever you do–keep teaching! The God who designed the mind has already guaranteed the resurrection Power of His Word!
