Primary Components–The Word of God April 30, 2007
Posted by Joe in : Family Worship Series , trackbackErin,
Great job keeping things going last week. I am thankful for your diligence and I trust I am not alone. Your insights on inconsistency were especially needed, I believe. Well, now it is time to move into our next section–The Primary Components of Family Worship. The first one we come to is, of course, the Word of God, the Bible, the Scriptures!
I am not overstating the case to say that there is nothing more important than how well we know the Word of God. So many great men have said this that I’m not sure who I should quote. There is simply nothing more important. For it is the knowledge of the Scriptures that ushers us into the knowledge of God. It is the knowledge of the Scriptures that enables us to view our world rightly. It is the means by which we can come to a proper understanding of our own hearts and our own time and culture and societal values. It is the chief means through which the Holy Spirit renews our thoughts and affections. Where there is ignorance of Scripture, there is darkness. Where there is the knowledge of Scripture, there is light. It really is that simple.
So, when it comes to leading our homes and in particular, to the daily practice of family worship times, what could be more important that daily exposure to the Word of God? I can’t think of anything can you!? Family Worship is a wonderful time for this exposure, particularly for young ones. Just imagine, day in and day out, being guided through the Word of God by Dad and Mom. A short reading and short explanation will suffice.
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy really. And as we said, there are plenty of resources to help. But a short reading and explanation each day goes a long way to renewing your minds in accordance with the Word. Not to mention, the daily exposure serves to bring a certain degree of ‘comfort’ with the Scriptures. This is why there should not be any kid who is raised in the church who does not know his way around the Bible–or who is not comfortable with his knowledge of its contents. Where this discomfort and ignorance is presence, Dad has failed. There is simply no other way to put it. Maybe the church has failed to properly prepare Dad. That is often the case. Leaders are not leading as they should. But either way, Dad is responsible for exposing his children to the Word of God. Nothing else can be so important.
This leads me back to my 10 minutes per day statistic. Imagine that you expose your children to the Word of God (reading and explanation) for only 5 minutes per day. Let’s add up the numbers. 5 minutes per day leads to 150 minutes per month. Yes, that is 2 and 1/2 hours per month at 5 minutes a day! Now times that by 12 and you end up with 1800 minutes per year–or 30 hours! Yes, that is over a whole day! Now times that by 16 years and you end up with 480 hours–or 20 twenty-four hour days! That is amazing.
So, if during the course of 16 years or so, if you spend only 5 minutes per day reading and explaining the Scriptures to your children, you end up teaching them for a total of 480 hours or 20 twenty-four hour days. What more needs to be said? Let’s go at it!
As I said, we will recommend some helps. I know it isn’t easy, but as I say often, nothing worthwhile is easy. That is just the way things are in this fallen world. Maybe in Heaven all will run smoothly, but right now, it is surely a battle. Let us pray for the grace to fight!
Exposing our kids to the Word with you (little by little),
Joe
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