The Following Blog Post is By Kati Berreth, Redeemer Kids Director

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ESV)

I have used the above verses for the past two blog posts because these verses affirm that we are in fact the primary disciplers in our homes and that because of this we are called to disciple our kids daily, regularly, all the time. Yet, these verses are taken out of a larger chunk of scripture that is necessary for us to look at if we are to figure out what we are to actually say to our kids when we disciple them.

                  “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.  (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ESV)

There is one God

So how do these verses help us know what to say to our kids? Look at the beginning of verse 4 - “The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”  One of the most important things we can tell our kids is that there is only one God. If your two-year- old can hold up 1 finger, then teach him or her to say “1 God” and repeat that over and over again. It can be just that easy.

Love the Lord

The next part of verse 4 is also crucial in helping us know that we should say to our kids but it is more about our relationship first then about what we should say. We need to love the LORD (our) God with all (our) heart(s) and with all (our) soul(s) and with all (our) might. The more we spend time in His word and in prayer with Him, the more we will want to share what we are learning with our kids.

Today, as I was prepping the curriculum for Sunday in Redeemer Kids, I was overwhelmed by reading about how Jacob literally “held on to God” as he waited to hear back from his brother Esau whom he had tricked and stolen their father’s blessing from 20 years prior. Think back to the last time you were anxiously awaiting news or wrestling with God during the night. Did you cling on to Him and His promises that He has spoken to you in His word and through your prayers? Spending time in the story of Jacob today gave me a new perspective and a new understand of what my relationship could be and should be like with God. I am to love the Lord with everything in me and I get to share this new insight tonight during our devotional time.

But what if you aren’t there yet? What if you don’t love the Lord currently? This is where the story of Jacob can speak to that as well. He clung on to God because the safety of his life and his family’s life was in the hand of the brother he had treated so horribly. All Jacob could do during this time was cling on to the knowledge that God had promised to bless his family beyond anything he could imagine - and we get to cling on to God’s promises as well. 

John 3:16 tells us that “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” God loves us! He loves us so much that He sent His own son as the sacrifice for our sins so that we too could receive His blessing, if we believe, like Jacob. So we can rejoice that even our sin of not loving Him enough or rightly has been forgiven because of Jesus’ perfect life, death, burial, and resurrection - defeating Satan, sin, and death. 

Know the Lord

And the last section of the scripture passage then goes into this idea because we can’t love God unless we know Him, but these verses “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” are telling us specifically how important it is to know God’s commandments. These verses tell us to put them everywhere so that we never forget them. And although we could take these as literally as the Israelites did by wearing head bands with boxes on them containing the scriptures or special bracelets or even bring this idea into our current trend of getting tattoos, I would simply encourage you to know the words of God and His commandments by spending time in the Bible. Read it daily, meditate on it, memorize it, read it to your kids, listen to sermons about it, read commentaries about it. By knowing Him and spending time with Him, your love for Him will grow and that affection will pour out of you and into your kids.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ESV)

Yup, if you are a parent or a primary care-giver, you have been called by God to teacher your kids about Him everyday, every moment, in everything you do. That seems daunting, right? Over the next few blogs, I hope to break down the above verse into small, manageable parts so that the idea of discipling kids isn’t so overwhelming with the hope that as we intentionally disciple our kids, it will become second nature - something that we do as we sit and walk and lie down and rise and text and drive to soccer practice and grocery shop and play video games…

So here are three ways to start being that primary discipler:

1.  Talk to your kids daily about God.

Pick one time during the day when you will consistently - or as consistently as possible with crazy schedules - talk to your kids about God. This could be at breakfast or dinner or before bed. Just pick one and make it a routine.

One way that family devotionals have been consistent for us as a family is that we do them as we finish our meal…notice I said “as we finish” our meal. The reason we do our devotionals as we finish is to help bridge that age gap span between our 4 kids who are 7-12. They are all in different places emotionally, physically and spiritually so everyone is still “present” during each conversation if they are eating and sitting still even if the conversation takes a more mature turn for our 10 year old son. And to be honest, it also helps me - mom - not be rushing to move on to clean up dishes and get ready for bed, which I was always tempted to do when we did devotionals at the end of the meal.

2.  Decide what you are going to say.

For most of us this seems easy in theory but in reality it is really daunting. Questions like what book in the Bible should I read to my kids first or what devotional should I use or do I need to explain the Trinity first or how do I explain reformed theology to my 4 year-old can make the task seem overwhelming. My advice - just start somewhere.

Over the course of parenting for the last 12 years, my family has started and stopped numerous family devotionals. We have read through proverbs, then the Jesus Storybook Bible, and made it through the first quarter of The Long Story Short probably 3 times. We have used the family devotionals provided by Redeemer Kids, The New City Catechism and even done season devotionals. And we start each with good intentions but sometimes they don’t work for the stage of life our kids are in (we have four spanning from 7-12) or for our schedule.

This might sound like we aren’t very “devoted” to devotionals but the reason I shared that is to say it is simply important to make it a priority, even if the devotional you pick doesn’t work long term. If you make it a regular rhythm in your home, then your kids will begin to expect it to happen and they will grow as disciples in their love of God and the Gospel!

3.  Pray for your kids and pray with your kids.

God is sovereign over His relationship with your kids and with you and you get to be the agent that the Holy Spirit uses to teach your kid about Him. How amazing is that! So spend time in prayer asking God to give you the words to speak to your kids and then model this prayer with your kids so that they grow up praying as well.

And help your kids learn to pray corporately by attending Redeemer’s dinner and prayer night. This will not only help you grow in your prayer life by seeing how the Holy Spirit is prompting others to pray, but it will help kids see that this is an amazing thing - not something weird that only your family does at dinner or at bedtime. Your whole family will get to experience being part of the family of Redeemer and petitioning God together.

I pray that as all of us seek to be the primary disciple makers in our homes that we would experience the amazing power of the Gospel more completely and we would fall more in love with our Savior so that we can pass on these affections to our kids.

8 Items For Christian Parents To Ponder: Along the way he includes a brief but powerful section in which he exhorts parents in the duties they have in raising their children. He wants you, the parent, to seriously consider the responsibility that God has entrusted to you for each one of your children. And, at least for me, each of them felt like a gut-punch. He offers these 8 considerations, asking that you would ponder each one and allow them to motivate you to call your children to respond to the gospel.

Stephen Curry And The Culture of Self-Trust: The gospel transforms our notion of self-worth and identity because it invites us to embrace a sense of meaning and purpose that’s bigger than ourselves. In Christ, we we’re not demoralized by failure or overly impressed by narrow ideas of success, like football tackles or MVP awards or prestigious scholarships and degrees.

How Do I Know I'm A Christian?: Whenever counseling Christians looking for assurance of salvation, I take them to 1 John. This brief epistle is full of help for determining whether we are in the faith or not. In particular, there are three signs in 1 John given to us so we can answer the question “Do I have confidence or condemnation?”

What Does It Mean To "Accept Jesus": Ray Ortlund gives us a very helpful instruction of what is truly means to "Accept Jesus".

7 Truths About Hell: Hell is a difficult reality, but it is something that the Bible teaches, and we can't fully understand God and his world unless we grapple with it. These seven truths should frame our discussion of hell.

9 Things Adult Daughters Want Their Mothers To Know: John Stott notes that Paul’s emphasis falls upon the restraint, not the exercise, of parental authority. He writes, “Children are to obey . . . yet they have a life and personality of their own.” I wonder if these young women and Stott aren’t on the same page. So moms, there you have it, from the younger generation to us older. May we listen and take it to heart.

Feminism Isn't Good Enough: Diversity is a good thing. We need the qualities that both men and women carry; they are equal in value and equally necessary for understanding the whole of who God is. He has made men and women in his image, he has made us unique, and he has given us equally important and differing roles within his kingdom.

I Am Barabbas: As we more greatly understand the depths of our sin, we see with Luke, “I am Barabbas.” I am the one so clearly guilty and deserving of condemnation but set free because of the willing substitution of the Son of God in my place. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick,” Jesus says in Mark 2:17. “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The Unrighteous Will Not Inherent The Kingdom Of God: Just think of it: through faith in Jesus Christ and repentance from sin God can release into your life the power of the Holy Spirit that can swallow up your disordered desires in something greater and more beautiful and more desirable so that you can live each day in a way pleasing to God, even in the midst of on-going struggles and brokenness.

Helping Children Benefit From The Sermon: There are many other things you could do, but this is just a list of items that we have found helpful in our family and church. Perhaps you have others; feel free to list them in the comments so that others may benefit from them.

The Spiritual Stages Of A Believer's Life: In turn, he will call them to live in light of these privileges. On the surface, it appears that John may simply have been seeking to address the children, young men and older men in the congregations to whom he is writing; but, a consideration of what he says–namely, that all the saving benefits belong to all believers who are united to Christ–leads to a very different conclusion.

A Theology Of Sports: Nevertheless, we can’t let the reality of sin warp our view of sports. We need to be careful, for sure, always using discernment, always aware of our tendency to drift away from the gospel and to make things other than God ultimate in our lives. But we can’t forget that, in the end, sin doesn’t win. One day, we will live in a kingdom void of sin and corruption—everything that robs sports of all they might be. And it is our role now to usher in and live in this kingdom, making it on earth as it is in heaven—and that includes the way in which we see and interact with sports.

The Follow Of The Cross And The Wisdom Of God: An April Fool's Meditation: It is fitting that April Fool’s Day should fall in the middle of Holy Week this year. Though it’s not noted in the Church Calendars alongside Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, or Easter Sunday, yet the gospel of Christ’s passion has always been caught up with the reality of folly has it not?

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Discipling Your Kids Is More Than Family Devotions: I am confident, therefore, that as we steep ourselves in Scripture and allow God to broaden our view of discipleship to encompass the entire day, our capacity to perceive and leverage timely opportunities will become the natural outflow of our lives. As a result, our children may find faith that is utterly pervasive and a Savior who really does change everything, not just bedtime.

Inviting Children Into The Prayer Closet: When I look at John Newton’s life, a man who was once nicknamed “The Great Blasphemer,” I wonder how many of his mother’s pleas with God, blessings that filled a prayer closet and his little preschooler ears, carried him through his far away years and helped to bring his heart close to Jesus?  Only God knows.

When I Glory In My Shame: I need to be aware of these things—each of those ugly things on my ugly list. And most of all, I need to remember what is mostly deeply true. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to have the approval of others, and especially to receive the affirmation of God. But the crucial fact is, I already have it through Christ. I am already accepted by God because of what Christ has done, and this acceptance is all I need. When I am at my best it means everything to me. But when I am at my worst, it means nothing.

You Are My Son, and I Love You: As a Christian who believes the gospel should permeate every area of my life, there are more and more blind spots that I’m learning to see more clearly. When it comes to baseball, I realized that my sincere attempts to make them better players was not honoring the gospel. My response to them was based on their performance (good works), and their identity as a baseball player was more dominant in their thinking than being my sons.

10 Lessons Regarding Vacation: I am not the savior of the church. Jesus is. I don’t have to die for the church. Jesus did. I don’t have to run the church. Jesus does. 

Three Takeaways From Parks And Rec: So I invite you to stay awhile. Enjoy the best of your city and work to change the worst. As Perd Hapley might say, “The story of this article is that place matters. And by place, I mean, wherever you live.”

Praying In The Spirit: But we do pray, we can pray, we should pray because the Spirit assures that God is our Father who longs to hear us. The Spirit of God enables us to share the experience of sonship that God the Son experiences. That is a glorious gift of grace. It means confidence, intimacy and joy.

How Christians Should Mortify Sin: Mortification withers sin’s power over you by focusing on Christ’s redemption in a way that softens your heart with gratitude and love; which brings you to hate the sin for itself, so it loses its power of attraction over you. In summary, then, we kill sin in the Spirit when we turn from sinful practices ruthlessly and turn our heart from sinful motivations with a sense of our debt to love and grace, by minding the things of the Spirit.

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What I Would Have To Deny To Deny Hell: If I am to deny that hell is a real place, if I am to deny that hell is that kind of place, I will be turning my back on two thousand years of Christian history—on two thousand years of brothers and sisters in Christ who had great knowledge of Scripture and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. I’ll grant that there are times this is necessary; there are times that many Christians are wrong about many things. But such a decision must be made with great fear and trembling and only on the basis of overwhelming Scriptural evidence.

3 Truths For A Tired Mother: Tired mother, the days and nights with babies sometimes feel long, stretching out in front of you in what looks like ceaseless repetition. But before you know it, your baby grows into a boy who grows into a young man. This is the day the Lord has made. Even when you're tired, rejoice and be glad in it.

Is Your Marriage A Picture Of The Gospel?: If marriage is a picture of Christ and his love for his church, then much more is at stake than my happiness. The world should long for what Christians have. If our marriages aren’t filled with kindness and joy, why would anyone want what we offer? But when they see in us a mutual delight, a gentle and easy trust in one another, they can’t help but ask, “What’s your secret?” And we can tell them that it’s no secret at all. It’s Jesus.

Our Children's First Glimpse Of The Value Of Work: Stay-at-home parents can feel like their work is a thankless and ordinary endeavor. I once heard someone say that the very God who does such routine tasks as raising the sun each morning calls us to daily work in the ordinary and routine. There is much encouragement for the stay-at-home parent in this pattern. We can work with purpose and skill, whether we are in the home or out of the home, knowing that in Christ every labor to which we set our hearts is never in vain.

When The Sex Should Stop: Speaking again to men, when this is our wife’s circumstance, whether by doctor’s order or by that vibe we can intuit, it is our privilege to lead in laying aside our sexual desires for her good. Maybe just for a few nights, or maybe many months, depending on the situation, the sex should stop and we should pray. We should lead our wives in prayer that our marriage reflect the glory of Christ and his gospel, that God transpose the unfulfilled passion for sex into an enjoyment of his sufficiency, and that, as much as possible, the circumstances that made the sex stop stay a sometimes. Because it’s sometimes that sex should stop in marriage.

50 Shades Of Nay: Sin Is A Needle, Not A Toy: Sin is a needle that indulges deadly addictions and murders its victims. It is not the toy it pretends to be. It pierces quietly and deeply to the most vulnerable and longest-lasting parts of us. In whatever package — however beautiful, captivating, and culturally accepted — it is not safe. In the end, the guilty pleasure is no pleasure at all. Only God can please what our eyes and hearts truly crave.

5 Tips For Bible Memory: The process of memorizing can be can a profound opportunity to make sure that we “do not refuse him who is speaking” (Hebrews 12:25). Here are five simple tips for doing a February refresh on Scripture memorization.

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