In this series of posts we’re talking about passing the baton of faith to our children.

Two posts ago we talked about “discipleship in the home;” last post we covered the vital relationship between the “church & the home;“ today we’re talking about “how to impart a biblical worldview” to the next generation.

Everyday we wake up in “Babylon”… the “formation machine” (Dallas Willard)… the “idol factory” (John Calvin) that is the world and if we think that our kids are gonna catch faith like osmosis, we are dead wrong.

If we don’t want to end up like the Israelites in Judges chapter 2, we must be strong and courageous-standing on the ancient truths of God’s word, so that a generation will grow up “knowing and seeing” all that the Lord is capable of!

We say it’s a message we wish we could give at Easter because I (Ben) always feel this tension, like most pastors, to convince the “Christmas & Easter” attendees that there’s so much more life available to them!

The point is: I’d give a more pointed message on Easter, if it were only filled with young families… you get the point (yes, it was click bait basically)

Okay, let’s get to the point.

How-to guide for biblical worldview

A new believer recently asked me how to practically disciple your children in the day-to-day and the scripture that came to mind was Deuteronomy 6. It’s genius is it’s simplicity.

Wess Huff said in his recent interview with Andrew Shulz that the Bible is: descriptive, prescriptive and emotive. For me, this corrected an oft used phrase: “the Bible’s not prespcriptive!” Well it is sometimes…

The key words above are “when… when… when.” I love what James Clear said recently, “when it comes to habits don’t think ‘what’ think ‘where’…” It may take you a moment but when that clicks you’ll be amazed.

Habit formation (the main ingredient that gives life to discipleship) has as much to do with when you’re gonna do the things as it does where you’re gonna do the things.

Lemme as ask though: how you gonna “talk about them (“these commands”) when you are at home” if you’re never home? And I’m not just talking about “absent fathers” here. I’m talking about the reckless & breakneck speed of our Southern California lifestyle.

And here’s your bonus now that we are on the cusp of summer: DON’T OVER PROGRAM YOUR SUMMER!

As much as some of us have the issue of “low to no” discipleship rhythms in the home, there’s another half of us that is always tempted to “over-program.”

Don’t do it! Resist the urge to enroll your kids into every single nature group and VBS and sports camp, etc etc etc!

Just be home.
around the table.
Talking about how to
better Love the Lord with
ALL of our hearts…
and ALL of our souls…
and ALL of our strengths…

And here is the example story that I will leave you with…

The other day my 10-year old son (one of the wildest of the whole bunch) was kind of doing this new “pre-teen” thing of bragging and boasting about how, you know, he could climb the rock wall better than his siblings.

And you know typically in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, I’d just give it the ol holler, ‘Shep! Knock it off…!’ (And I’d do this from 20 or 40 feet away, likely).

But this time was different; thank God that by his Holy Spirit we get these little promptings, but I got down on one knee, looked him in the eyes and I told him how the book of Proverbs is about 3 different types of people: the wise, the fool, the scoffer… I turned to my 10-year old and said, “son, which one do you wanna be?”

It‘s a small, everyday moment at the park one afternoon.
It’s a pause, in the hustle and bustle of our distracting world.
It‘s a brief word, from the best book every written.
It‘s a vision for his life that I want him to walk into.
It’s an anchor for his very soul…

And anyone can do that.*
(*Any parent with a conviction to raise their kids based on ‘remembering the things God did and said’ and to raise their kids like, ‘a holy nation, a precious possession unto the Lord’)…

Love yall. Keep fighting the good fight!

-Ben & Rylee