A Parent’s Priority

Commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Whether children are ten months or ten years old, childhood is a prime time to hide God’s Word in their hearts, to know God’s love as expressed in the Bible, and to help them understand that the Bible addresses real life. Children may learn Bible verses at church or be exposed to God’s Word at camp, Christian school, or vacation Bible school. But God’s very clear instruction in this familiar Deuteronomy 6 passage is that parents—not the pastor or Sunday school teacher—are to teach their children God’s Word at every opportunity—at the breakfast table, on the way to school, in the park, and at bedtime.

Exposing our children and grandchildren to Scripture in everyday living is a vital part of helping children develop a living faith in the living God.

In this passage, the Lord didn’t make a suggestion to parents: “If you have time and feel like it, or if you’ve had seminary training, then teach your children my commands.” No, it was a blanket command to all God’s people: “Commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands. . . . Repeat them again and again to your children.” Why? So they would love the Lord their God and obey his commands and he would keep his covenant for a thousand generations (see Deuteronomy 7:7-9). This command wasn’t meant to burden parents but to bring blessing promised to every future generation that follows and obeys him. God’s powerful Word is the key way for children to discover and know him. So let it happen, little by little, day by day, from high-chair devotions with your toddler to Bible stories with your first grader, and later as you engage in a discussion with your teen about a difficult decision.

Father, help me to hide your Word in my children’s and grandchildren’s hearts. Your word is eternal. Thank you for the privilege of sharing your love and nurturing faith in little ones’ hearts and minds.

There is no doubt that it is the job of us as parents—not the priests, kings, or prophets—to teach God’s truth to our children.

Bruce Wilkinson(1940–), American teacher and author