“Each one of us did the work God gave us to do. I planted the seed of the teaching in you, and Apollos watered it. But God is the One who made the seed grow.” 1 Corinthians 3:5b-6 (ICB)
Discipling our children occurs as we plant seeds of faith and water or cultivate those seeds and soil, as we pray for God to make them grow and help our kids flourish!
Sometimes, it requires hard work and a lot of time, but there is also one simple way to effectively disciple our children that seems too good to be true! I’ll share that discovery today.
Parenting is one of the greatest responsibilities I’ve ever been given. When I pare it down to what eternally matters, my prayer for our family is the same every day: that we would all be in Heaven together someday.
When I lose sight of the reality that God does the actual heart work in my children (and in me), it can begin to feel like a whole lot of PRESSURE as the parent. I want to get this right!
It’s helpful to remember that God makes the seed grow, but I also recognize that doesn’t leave me as a passive spectator. I am called to steward this responsibility of teaching and training my children and that requires my active participation.
I’m assuming you want to encourage your children toward a life and eternity spent with Christ too. So, where do we begin?
Want to hear what I discovered that sounds too good to be true?!
Let the [spoken] word of Christ have its home within you [dwelling in your heart and mind—permeating every aspect of your being] as you teach [spiritual things] and admonish and train one another with all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16 (AMP)
Did you catch how we are to train one another with all wisdom?
Singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
When I connect this verse to the lessons from Deuteronomy 6:7, I see a modern day way to love the Lord and impress His commands upon our children as we are on the road . . . One practical way to live out these verses is to listen to psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs as we drive.
I am not super tech savvy. I still prefer paper planners, paying people with cash rather than venmo, and using CDs while we drive instead of using more advanced technology.
The aforementioned pressure releases as I load CDs into our van’s CD player and allow God’s Truth to wash over and energize us all.
It is an added bonus that Scripture becomes easier to memorize for us as parents while we hear the Bible verses over and over in song form. This is important because the Word of Christ needs to have its home in us first, and permeate every aspect of our being, so we can then share what we have learned through our outpouring of teaching.
This practice has been immensely fruitful in our family. Joy comes through singing as worship and goodness emerge when the Truth of Scripture moves from our head to our heart.
There have been moments my children, barely beyond toddler years, connected a lesson back to what we heard in the van. (They call it “kids singing” because they have always preferred resources involving kids who sound like them singing, rather than adults.) I’ve heard them say “Mommy! That’s what we learned from kids singing: honor your father and your mother!”
I am in awe of God for giving us instruction to take advantage of this simple discipling tool and I’m so grateful for people who have used their talents to create amazing musical resources for everyone’s benefit.
In case you want to give this a try yourself, I want to share a list of our family’s favorite recommendations for learning Scripture through song:
At The Savvy Sauce, we will only recommend resources we believe in! We also want you to be aware: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Sing the Bible with Slugs & Bugs
Hidden In My Heart: A Lullaby Journey Through Scripture
The second part of training mentioned in the verse from Colossians is equally important: we are to train with thankfulness in our hearts to God.
We get to express our thankfulness to Him as we train our children.
Thank you, God, for entrusting these children into our care. May we shepherd them well, staying connected to You so that we can love and train them out of the overflow of Your love for us. Thank You for giving us fresh mercies every morning. May we apply all we have just learned, and in doing so, share Your joy with all whom we encounter today. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!
Blessings,
Laura
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I want you to have your own copy of Sing the Bible with Slugs & Bugs to support your faithfulness in training your children by singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
