Many families have given up on family devotion time as their kids get older, but we have tried to make it work in a few creative ways. Each of these things can be modified to fit your schedule and the ages of your children.
Another dinnertime where there were empty chairs at the table. A few of the kids grabbed their food and headed to the other table in the kitchen. Two kids stayed to eat with me at the dining room table. We had sat like this for three nights in a row. Our family was busy running to sports practices and working late. When the children were little activities weren’t during dinnertime. We would sit together and laugh and eat and talk about God’s Word.
Now that they are growing up and the outside world calls for them to be a part of clubs, practices, and even more things we’ve struggled with how to maintain a family devotion life. It is hard to find a time when we are all together. I could just lament the change of season and imagine a time when we might all be together again. But the years run together, and I know they will not be in our house forever. So, my husband and I have started getting creative when it comes to having family devotion time.
Many families have given up on family devotion time as their kids get older, but we have tried to make it work in a few creative ways. Each of these things can be modified to fit your schedule and the ages of your children. The best part of learning from each other is we can take what works with one family and make it fit our family.
Memorize Scripture Together
At the beginning of the year our pastor challenged each church member to begin memorizing a passage of scripture. We would start out with one verse a month. On Sunday nights we would recite the verse together and everyone was invited to participate in trying to memorize the verse for the month. Our kids took to it right away. So much so, that right before bed we would recite the memory verse for the month together as a family. As the months rolled on, we would add the additional verses, but revisit the previous month’s verse as well.
This can be modified to do anytime during the day. If your family tends to be together at breakfast time, recite the verse then. If there isn’t a mealtime or bedtime that you are all together, challenge each other to memorize the scripture passage separately and take turns reciting the verse to each other when you are together.
The beautiful thing about this is you can pick a passage or a psalm or anything really to help you get into God’s word. Memorizing is like meditating and Psalm 1:1 says we are to meditate on God’s word day and night. Young children will surprise you with their ability to learn the verse faster than the parents! If you want additional help with memorizing scripture, my friend Glenna wrote a beautiful book on it here.
Go Through a Catechism
When our children were younger we would go around the dinner table and practice catechism questions. If you aren’t familiar, you can read about catechisms here. These questions and answers are a great jumping-off point to talk about doctrine with young children and older children as well. We weren’t interested in just teaching our children to memorize the answer without knowing what the answer meant.
For example, when we asked the question, “Why did God create man?” The answer was simple but we would take that answer and show them in scripture how God had designed each of us with a purpose and a plan. Some church affiliations have specific catechisms they use, but a good one can be found here.
Catechisms can become legalist, so as we teach our children these truths we focus more on the ideas behind the questions and answers. We want to point them to scripture and help them understand that these ideas are not from Mom and Dad but from God’s Word. They simply give us a starting point to really dive deep into some topics like sin, the fall of man, the death of Jesus, and the resurrection. One of the most important things we can teach our children is a clear understanding of the Gospel. Doctrine is good, but doctrine itself won’t change a heart. We need the Holy Spirit to illuminate those truths.
Talk about a Topic
Talking about a topic is something that our family has recently started doing. We like to do this before bed every night when we can. It doesn’t have to be a deep topic, but if we notice a pattern of sinful behavior we might talk about what the Bible says about that. We usually find some helpful scripture or a booklet to help guide us through the topic. New Growth Press is a great resource to find various topics to talk to your children about. Although they are written for adults, we try to put them in words they can understand. Like the catechism, this just provides a blueprint for where to take the conversation.
One time we noticed a lot of fighting between siblings. So, we talked a few months about the verse, Ephesians 4:32. “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” We talked about what it looked like to be kind and forgive and live together in love for one another. We’ve talked about issues like pride, anger, and lying. We try to find a book or at least one scripture to help focus our attention.
Whether you do one of these ideas or a combination, any of these ideas can be done in just a few moments of the day. You can pick a time, and sometimes it might change from week to week or day to day. We have found that if we do come together at least one time during our day as a family it works best. They expect that we are going to talk about God’s Word, and we pray.
One last thing, as we get together to talk about God’s Word as a family it doesn’t have to be fancy, and it doesn’t have to be complicated. It really is simple, but we do like to add prayer as well. We always like to take time to allow them to share prayer requests. We give them time to think and then listen as they share what is on their hearts.
However, if you decide to have family devotions, may you remember that God meets you there. He is pleased with however way it looks. When our children were little there were some that didn’t understand or didn’t listen well, but we still shared God’s Word. We still prayed and talked about it. As the children have gotten older, they are less likely to share their thoughts and feelings, but they are listening as well. We pray, as parents, that these seeds of truth will grow on hearts soft and ready.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/nicolesy
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