Parents, grandparents, and educators are responsible for teaching children to love the Bible and live according to God’s Word. Most parents teach children to ride bikes, maintain automobiles, and manage money. Yet, few parents train children in the vital discipline of daily reading and meditating on God’s Word. Biblical illiteracy is high, moral relativism is common, and doctrinal confusion is widespread because many Christians have never been taught how to have a quiet time and don’t read the Bible. God’s commands to “daily meditate” on His Word (Ps. 1:2) and to “hide God’s Word in our heart” (Ps. 119:11) apply to adults and children. We cannot live according to God’s ways if we do not know God’s Words. Here are six ways to help your children develop a love for God’s Word.

1. DEVELOP THE HABIT OF READING THE BIBLE

Spending time daily in God’s Word should be your highest priority. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 states, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children.” God’s progression in this passage is important. God’s Word is to be on your heart, and then it can be taught to children. Empty vessels have nothing to give. You cannot pass on to children what you do not have. You will not pass on a passion for Scripture if you do not treasure it yourself. You cannot train children to develop skills to study God’s Word if you have not cultivated it in your own life. If you are in ministry at a church or Christian school, ensure that doing God’s work does not inhibit your time in God’s Word.

2. PRACTICE FAMILY WORSHIP

Family worship consists of reading Scripture, praying, and praising God (often through music), which introduces children to the truths of Scripture and prepares them for Christian life. God has given the father the role of spiritual leader, but both parents are to share in the biblical instruction of children (Eph. 6:4; Prov. 1:8). Consider a few practical thoughts: Read the Bible, not just someone’s thoughts about the Bible. Devotionals are helpful, but the primary source should be the Bible. My wife and I often read Psalms and Proverbs to our children, strategically choosing passages based on what we are teaching them. Proverbs is the one book of the Bible written to young people, and it should receive heavy emphasis in your home or classroom. Read the entire Bible to children. The pattern of Scripture is to teach children its deep truths. In the Colossian or Ephesian church, children were present to be told to obey their parents and were not excused when difficult topics were covered. Therefore, they were taught everything contained in these two books. Read briefly. Remember, they are children. The younger a child is, the shorter their attention span will be. Don’t expect your child to study the Bible like an adult. Try to keep your family reading concise and to the point but meaningful. Ten minutes is a reasonable amount of time to begin. A great resource is The Long Story Short by Marty Machowski. Include children in reading and discussion. Explain the Bible passage clearly and biblically, engage children in the process, and help them apply God’s truth to life. If family worship is not a normal habit in your home, do not be discouraged by the child who complains, does not answer questions, or tries to derail the time. Once the child learns that you are serious about reading the Bible regularly, they will get into the routine of listening and responding.

Consider a few practical thoughts:

Read the Bible, not just someone’s thoughts about the Bible. Devotionals are helpful, but the primary source should be the Bible. My wife and I often read Psalms and Proverbs to our children, strategically choosing passages based on what we are teaching them. Proverbs is the one book of the Bible written to young people, and it should receive heavy emphasis in your home or classroom.

Read the entire Bible to children. The pattern of Scripture is to teach children its deep truths. In the Colossian or Ephesian church, children were present to be told to obey their parents and were not excused when difficult topics were covered. Therefore, they were taught everything contained in these two books.

Read briefly. Remember, they are children. The younger a child is, the shorter their attention span will be. Don’t expect your child to study the Bible like an adult. Try to keep your family reading concise and to the point but meaningful. Ten minutes is a reasonable amount of time to begin. A great resource is The Long Story Short by Marty Machowski.

Include children in reading and discussion. Explain the Bible passage clearly and biblically, engage children in the process, and help them apply God’s truth to life. If family worship is not a normal habit in your home, do not be discouraged by the child who complains, does not answer questions, or tries to derail the time. Once the child learns that you are serious about reading the Bible regularly, they will get into the routine of listening and responding.

3. TEACH CHILDREN THE CORE DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY

Young people are unlikely to remain faithful to a faith they do not understand and cannot defend. Parents, youth leaders, and Christian educators should teach children of all ages the core doctrines of the Christian faith with zeal and consistency. In 2 Timothy 3:15, we read of Timothy, “From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Psalm 71:17 says, “Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.” Following the pattern of Scripture, children of all ages are to be taught the core truths of the Bible so that they will be firmly rooted in Christ and established in their faith (Col. 2:7). The Bible clearly states what will happen to children when they are not well grounded in God’s Word:

1. Taken captive by man’s ideas and deceived by human traditions (Col. 2:8).

2. Become rebellious and live a godless, unfaithful life (Ps. 78:8).

3. Do not know God or His great works (Judg. 2:10).

TEACH THESE IMPORTANT TOPICS TO CHILDREN OF ALL AGES:

The Gospel

The gospel is the good news because it addresses our most serious problem. The gospel summarized: We have rebelled against the holy God who created us. God acted in Jesus to save us, and we take hold of that salvation by repentance of sin through faith in Jesus. Concerning the gospel, have a threefold aim for children to (1) clearly understand it, (2) concisely explain it, and (3) confidently proclaim it.

Big Picture of the Bible

The Bible is not a random collection of people or events. It is a unified whole with one main storyline pointing to, revolving around, and fulfilled in Jesus. There are four major parts of the Bible: Creation (Gen. 1-2), Rebellion (Gen. 3), Salvation (Gen. 4 - Rev. 20), and Restoration (Rev 21-22). As you read through the Old Testament, help children see how it points to Jesus and His covenant of salvation. Jesus did this: “And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures” (Lk. 24:27).

The primary aim of the Bible is to glorify God, and this happens in salvation and judgment found on every page of the Bible. Read and reread the stories of the Bible to your children with this in mind. Familiarize them with the main stories, people, and events of the Bible, but not in a way that detaches them from the overall storyline of Scripture. We should call our children to obedience to Jesus Christ and can use the heroes of the faith as models to imitate, but let our teaching not dissolve into moralistic instruction separated from the gospel of Jesus or the glory of God.

Doctrine

Doctrine is simply a word to describe what the Bible teaches. Paul challenges young Timothy to “watch your life and your doctrine closely” (1 Tim. 4:16). Every child needs to understand the core doctrines of the Christian faith to grow into a man or woman with convictions to follow God.

The two most critical doctrines for children to learn center on the Word of God and the Son of God. Successful instruction teaches children the inerrancy, authority, and sufficiency of the Bible and trains children to embrace the supremacy, exclusivity, deity, and Lordship of Jesus Christ.

We must repeatedly teach topics with greater depth as children age, such as creation to counter evolution, God’s design for marriage between one man and one woman to counter homosexuality, the reality of heaven and hell to counter the claim that death is the end of all existence, the atoning work of Jesus to counter the claim that all religions lead to the same God, the Trinity, and the character of God, to name a few.

4. GIVE YOUR CHILD A BIBLE

When my mother was dying of ALS, she asked me what I most wanted of her possessions to remember her by. My mom had expensive jewelry, money, and things with worldly value, but the thing I wanted most was her Bible. My Mom’s Bible is the physical expression of the greatest gift she ever gave me: a love for God’s Word. Her Bible is tattered, and its pages are yellow and marked up. It was well-used and well-loved. Imagine giving this same gift to your children.

Purchase a high-quality leather Bible and personalize it for each child. Choose a full-text, readable version that can be used as they grow older. Underline or highlight passages you want to emphasize, make notations in the margins, and write short notes of encouragement and affirmation. A good age to give your personalized Bible to a child is between ages eight and ten. Plan a special ceremony or meal around the occasion. May your gift help your child love God’s Word and echo the Psalmist, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey” (Ps. 119:103).

5. TEACH CHILDREN HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE

During the early years of a child’s life, the parent is to feed the child spiritually, but this responsibility should gradually shift to the child. For this to happen, parents must teach their children how to read the Bible. Teach basic Bible study methods, including observation, interpretation, and application (called inductive Bible study).

Observation:

“What does this passage say?” Observation is taking a close look at what is happening in the passage. Correct observations are key to understanding the meaning of the text. We must read the Bible thoroughly, slowly, and prayerfully to understand what God is saying.

Interpretation:

“What does this mean?” Interpretation is trying to understand the intent of the author and is affected by the culture in which the author wrote, the biases we bring to the text, and the context in which the passage is found. We must understand a chapter and the entire book to understand a verse. Teach children to interpret Scripture with Scripture and to consult resources such as commentaries to best understand a passage.

Application:

“What does this passage require of me?” We come to the Bible for transformation, not simply for information. God’s Word has the authority to tell us how to live. Train children to obey all God’s commands, not just those they like, and that obedience is essential, not optional.

6. PROVIDE BIBLE STUDY TOOLS FOR CHILDREN

Every child should understand how to use the following Bible study tools, which make great gifts.

Commentaries explain the meaning and application of Scripture. Scholars spend vast amounts of time studying the Bible and write about their discoveries in commentaries. Scripture can be challenging to understand, so good commentaries are helpful. Bible Dictionaries list items by theme. Teach children to look up people, places, and themes of Scripture to quickly learn about important and obscure people in the Bible or the meaning of a word. Children can also look up themes such as faith and learn more about the topic.

Concordances are Bible catalogs that list every word alphabetically and tell where to find each word by listing references. Extremely helpful when studying a specific word or recalling a word in a passage when one cannot remember the reference.

Bible Atlases teach about the geography of the Bible, the location of cities, and the whereabouts of important happenings. For example, there is an Old Testament Jericho and a New Testament Jericho, which is helpful to understand. The Scripture writers purposefully wrote that Jesus walked up to a location, which is a geographical reference. It is helpful to know where a city is located to understand a text better.

If you want to influence children’s faith significantly, make it a priority to teach them to study and memorize the Bible. Encourage them to open God’s Word, be blessed by its truth and beauty, capture its depths and heights, and be captivated by the glorious God in its pages. The joyful experience of reading God’s Word is where great parenting and teaching begin. Leave a lasting legacy by training children to develop the spiritual discipline of Scripture reading. 

*This article originally appeared in The Renewanation Review® magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted here by permission of RenewaNation. For more information regarding RenewaNation, visit renewanation.org.