Mom Heart Moments #323

He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.”

WHEN I READ BIBLICAL ACCOUNTS of people who saw the glory of God, they are often bowing down in reverence and hiding their eyes because it is so wonderful and great. Yet that response is far removed from our experience today. All that used to be considered sacred, whether people, places, even concepts like marriage and childhood, are regularly devalued and ridiculed in contemporary culture.

At this time in history, then, we must seek diligently to give our children not just knowledge of what the word holy means, but tangible practices where they can come to understand that some things are sacred and set apart, deserving of our reverence and worship.

Consequently, as we begin the training of our little children’s hearts and souls, we must figure out how to convey to them that life is not about us. Our lives are about pleasing, serving, loving, worshiping, and living for the very One who is the Lord of the universe, the Creator of the world, the King forever, God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the ways we implemented a sense of reverence and holiness in the lives of our children was teaching them that there were places to use “quiet voices and respectful hearts” —like in church, at concerts, at funerals, at graduations, at recitals. Before we went into these places, we would talk to our children about our expectations ahead of time.

If this is not built into the warp and woof of your life, then when it comes to adulthood and worshiping and reverencing God, there will be no pattern, no practiced understanding of what it means to love and obey our Lord with wholehearted devotion.

How have you instilled reverence and devotion to our holy God in your family?