Overcoming The Last Four Excuses

If you find that any of the last four excuses for not reading the Bible with your child apply to you, consider the following:

My child knows where I stand on salvation; I’m letting him come to his own decision.

• Do not risk your child’s salvation on assumptions. They’re oftentimes wrong.
• Your child cannot be forced to make a decision for Christ. However, do not confuse hands-off parenting techniques with your God-given responsibility to train and
  disciple your child.

I don’t feel the Bible is relevant enough for today’s youth.

• Evaluate what your faith is based on. If it’s not based on the truths, covenants and practices of the Bible, determine the reality of your beliefs. The truths of the Bible
  are universal, crossing all gender, race, cultural and age spectrums.
• Evaluate whether you’re reading and applying the truths of the Bible in a relevant way for
  yourself. If the Bible is not yet relevant for you, you’re not going to convince your child that it is either.
• Consult with your pastor, church youth leader or another Christian with biblical knowledge to learn how the Bible is applicable for today’s youth.
• Shop for a Bible translation that includes interesting teaching tips, study notes and life parallels in the text. Ask your pastor, church youth leader or Christian bookstore
  manager to recommend one for you.

I’m afraid my child would rebel if I tried to start now.

• Call a family meeting, explain your desire to be in obedience to God’s commandment in raising your child, and ask your child's forgiveness for not having done it sooner. Your child may still not fully buy into the start of a new tradition, but the foundation for
  beginning will be laid and your child would have a hard time countering that approach without looking incredibly selfish or shameful.
• Start slow. Have a plan of where you’re going to start reading. Consult your pastor about where a good place would be to begin.
• Incorporate your child’s learning strengths into your Bible reading. Visual learners may want to sit beside you and read along or read along in their own Bible. Hands-on learners, who typically have a hard time sitting still, may appreciate you letting them color or doodle while you read.
• Keep it short, at least initially. You may need to keep it short for quite some time, until the habit is developed and the expectation set.

I’ve never been quite sure how to go about it.

• There’s no one way that fits every family situation or need. In addition, family situations and needs evolve over time, sometimes necessitating being flexible with your approach. It will work better if you remain open to suggestions from your child and be willing to adapt as needed. These suggestions will often come up in conversation as you and your child develop a relationship with God’s Word.
• Consult the resources around you for ideas. Obviously this blog will get you started, but talk to people, look at teaching materials in your church for ideas, search the internet. For example, if your child is very young, you may want to start with a picture Bible and concentrate on the life of Jesus along with the well-known stories of the Old Testament. You may find coloring sheets or books to go along with the reading to enhance the learning.
• Determine what your goals are. What do you hope to accomplish with your child at his age? Your goals will adapt over time as your child’s ability to understand grows, and as he makes any decision for Christ in the process. Your approach to a 13- year old who doesn’t know Christ as his Savior will be different from a 13-year old who does.

We’ll examine some of these areas in a little more depth in future postings.

Related Articles
8 Excuses Christian Parents Make
Overcoming The First Four Excuses
Step By Step To Family Devotions - The Series

Overcoming The First Four Excuses

You may be able to come up with additional methods for overcoming the excuses we make for not reading the Bible with our children. If you have any other ideas, I’d love for you to share them. Just click on the comment link below the post. Here are some ways of beating the first four excuses in our list.

I’m not much of a reader.

• Enlist the help of someone in your family who does like to read; you can lead the discussion.
• Set a time limit to your reading.
• Set a paragraph or chapter limit to your reading.
• Consider using the Bible on CD.
  
  I’m/My family’s so busy, we wouldn’t have the time to squeeze it in.
• Find ten or fifteen minutes at dinner or the end of the day to read.
• Evaluate, as a family and individually, whether your busy-ness has eternal significance, and act accordingly.
• Start the evening television marathon one half hour later.
• Schedule it into your day-timer, calendar, weekly planner, etc., and then follow through.
  
  Others are better equipped than I to do this.
• Acknowledge that while you may feel others are more creative or knowledgeable, they don’t know your child as well as you.
• You have the advantage and benefit of a warm, supportive environment and a relationship that others don’t share.
• Embrace the Lord’s command to “fear not,” which appears in the Bible dozens of times in a variety of contexts.
• Do not abdicate your role as parent because others have deceived you into thinking it should be left to the “experts.”
• Evaluate why you think this way. Are your fears/concerns at all reasonable or appropriate or is this justification for what really amounts to laziness?
  
  My child knows where I stand on salvation; I’m letting him come to his own decision.
• Do not risk your child’s salvation on assumptions. They’re oftentimes wrong.
• Your child cannot be forced to make a decision for Christ. However, do not confuse hands-off parenting techniques with your God-given responsibility to train and disciple your child.

We’ll look at the last four excuses tomorrow. Be prepared to deal with some convicting statements.

Related Articles:
8 Excuses Christian Parents Make
Overcoming The Last Four Excuses
Step By Step To Family Devotions - The Series

8 Excuses Christian Parents Make

photo by Dan4th

There are certain things in life that I really hate doing. Shopping is one of them. Loathe it. Abhor it. I find it detestable and utterly boring. I’d rather scrub bathroom tile grout with a toothbrush than step inside a retail store. I’d rather sit for hours in a traffic jam than find myself on the buying side of a purchase. I’d just assume clean fish with…. Anyway, I really hate shopping.

God, with his inimitable sense of humor, paired me with a man who absolutely loves to shop. My husband could spend all day doing it, actually without ever really making a purchase. I can only imagine God, sitting on His majestic throne, slapping His heavenly knee as He watches me drag behind my husband, eyes rolling as we enter yet another store to compare prices and analyze product features.

Because my husband is on the road with his job, guess who is responsible for doing a lot of the shopping? Through the years I have managed to figure out my own system for getting it done, even enjoying some aspects of it (it helps justify the ice cream sundae I promise myself at the end of the day). I don’t handle it with as much finesse or efficiency as I could, but I get the job done and I’m better for having pushed myself to do it.

The excuses we make for not doing something oftentimes only serve to hold us back and stymie growth. They become stumbling blocks to achieving our goals. Sometimes we can put our head down and just barrel through the obstacles, but that only works in the short term. If we’re interested in developing a worthwhile habit, we need to create motivational tools and simplify the process. In so doing, we start with manageable steps that will allow us to build consistency and permanence as we create a good habit.

Many Christian parents have created a list of excuses for not reading the Bible and spending time in devotion to the Lord with their children. Read the list below and see if any of these resonate with you.

• I’m not much of a reader.


• I’m/My family’s so busy, we wouldn’t have the time to squeeze it in.


• Others are better equipped than I to do this.


• My child knows where I stand on salvation; I’m letting him come to his own decision.
  
• I don’t feel the Bible is relevant enough for today’s youth.


• I’m afraid my child would rebel if I tried to start now.


• I’ve never been quite sure how to go about it.


• In all honesty, I just haven’t felt like doing it.

Let’s spend the next couple of days discussing tips, techniques and alternatives for getting around some of these excuses, making it easier to establish a consistent habit for holding family devotions.

Related Links:

Overcoming The First Four Excuses

Overcoming The Last Four Excuses

Step By Step To Family Devotions - the series