YOUR MOST POWERFUL TEACHING TOOL

 “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!
HIS OFFSPRING WILL BE MIGHTY IN THE LAND; the generation of the upright will be blessed”
(Psalm 112:1, 2).

There are so many wonderful resources and curriculums available for homeschoolers today. However, what do you think is your most powerful teaching tool? Can I tell you what I believe it is?

It’s your lifestyle!

Your children learn more from watching you and your husband than from all the curriculums you will ever purchase. You teach them how to have a successful marriage (or an unhappy one) by the way you and your husband relate to each other. My parents gave me an amazing example of a godly marriage. I know this set my husband and me on a path of a wonderful marriage for nearly 55 years.

When we commit to establishing family worship in our family, our children become aware that we honor God's Word. It’s not enough for us to go to church on Sunday or Saturday, but our children need to know that we can’t get through one day without the sustenance of God's precious Word. When we make it a commitment to read His Word and pray together morning and evening, they know that we truly are Bible believers and praying parents.

If your children do not see you honoring the Word of God each day, will they think it is something worth studying and reading? If we do not gather with them to pray together every day, will they see the importance of prayer?

Our children see by our lifestyle what is important to us. What do they see? A materialistic attitude, trying to keep up with the Joneses, and following the crowd? Or perhaps more commitment to sports than to the teaching of God’s Word? Or do they truly see that God is the priority in our lives?

Your children gain convictions about the sanctity of life by observing your attitude about children. If your attitude is against having more children, they subconsciously imbibe that children are a commodity to have according to your plans, rather than gifts to be embraced by God.

What about eating together at the table? Even in homeschooling families, this biblical tradition is being lost today as we get caught up in all the extra-curricular activities. I know that all these activities are very good. Satan, the deceiver, never entices us with things that are evil, but with things that are “good, pleasant, and wise” (Genesis 3:6).

If we don’t sit together for meals, what are we teaching our children? What example do we give them for when they establish their family life? Will they grow up always eating out and not establishing this biblical premise?

We read a biblical picture of a blessed family in Psalm 128:3 (NLT): “Your wife will be like a fruitful grapevine, flourishing within your home. Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees as they sit around your able.”

Your children learn the true roles of male and female by watching your lifestyle. I saw this exemplified in the lives of my parents. My mother was a beautiful homemaker and godly, submissive wife (although full of spark and forever getting the giggles)! My father was a real man (not a trace of wimpiness in him). He was known as a man’s man in a man’s world. But did he want my mother to compete with him? No. He reveled in her femaleness and the beautiful feminine clothes she sewed. She always dressed like a queen and he was so proud of femininity.

It’s amazing what theological truths we teach our children in our daily lives. When your husband sits at the head of table each evening, the children subconsciously become aware that he is the head of the home. And when he leads them in family devotions, the children understand that he is the priest and leader of the home. He is also teaching them how to conduct family life when they start a family.

You prepare your children for life by your daily attitudes and how you cope in times of stress. They observe whether your trust is in God or whether you cave in because you trust in your own resources.

Paul could confidently say to the young believers: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Paul didn’t say this once, but on many occasions (1 Corinthians 4:16; Philippians 3:17; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; and 2 Thessalonians 2:14). Can we say these words to our children?

Deuteronomy 5:29: “O that there was such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep ALL my commandments ALWAYS that it might be WELL WITH THEM, AND WITH THEIR CHILDREN FOREVER!” Do you notice that this Scripture has an exclamation after it? It must be important in God’s eyes.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Thank you, dear Father God for the privilege of building a dynasty for your kingdom. Help me to live according to Your ways so I can pass on your ways to our children and future generations. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I’m leading the way for my children, showing them a passionate lifestyle for God and His ways—a passion for prayer, a passion for worship, a passion for God’s Word, and a passion God’s perfect will.