Weave Truth or Fail as a Parent

I listen to as much news as I can stand these days, and usually end up in deep thought over one thing:

“How did we drop the baton?”

How did a country once full of intelligent men and women,  of courageous pluck, who believed in the truth that God’s Word contains wisdom that is true and good for all men, willing to fight and die for things that are right and things that make us free–how did we, in just a few generations, turn out a country full of apathetic citizens that hardly know where they came from, or what’s really going on, not willing to fight for much of anything–especially not “truth” because, well, they don’t really know truth?  How did we end up with a generation of people so oblivious that they are about to give up this great country we love and call HOME, and they don’t even know it?

We have failed to fulfill our commands across the generations.  We have failed to teach our children of God morning, noon and night. We have failed to weave TRUTH into our daily lives, to pass it on to our children so powerfully that they would pass it on to theirs.

“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ Sons when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” (Deuteronomy 4:9, 10)

In What Makes a Family, Edith Schaeffer writes:

“The primary place for the flag of truth to be handed on is in the family. The truth was meant to be given from generation to generation….

Explaining the things of the Bible, of God’s love, and of future prophecy is not meant to be something separated into a cubby-hole of “religious instruction” or “family prayer.” As children grow older there is to be a flowing unity in talking about history, present world news, science, which has its seeds in the beginning days of the first understanding of sentences, the first questions. Children’s questions must be taken seriously at the ages of two and three, or they won’t be continuing to ask you at twelve and twenty-three. The importance of being given answers and being treated as a significant human being begins as soon as answers are asked for….

“Look, dear, at that wonderful magnolia tree coming out with creamy, perfect blossoms. Only God could make such a growing thing. Just imagine; it once was a tiny little tree, and it grew into a big one. God can make things that grow, and then seeds that start new trees of the same kind. Isn’t He wonderful?”

“Did you hear that bird’s song? Listen to it! Imagine God’s creating birds that could sing like that! He would have those sounds in His mind first, just like a music composer has sounds go through his head when he is writing music for a violin or a whole orchestra. How great God is.”

“Ohhhh, I see lights coming on along the bay. What a sight. Some man thought up how to use electricity, didn’t he? And another designed those shapes for the lamps?” — “Amazing! You can see the sunset in the water at the same time. Imagine people thinking there was no person there to design the sun and the water and the reflection on all those ripples!”

“God’s direct Word comes to us — consider your place in the family as central, not just in this moment of history, but as part of the “relay.” Don’t let a gap come because of you. Don’t take the beauty of the family life — and the reality of being able to hand down true truth to one more generation — as a light thing. It is one of the central commands of God. It is direct disobedience to God to not make known His truth, to not make known the truth of Himself, and to not make known the wonderful works that He has done.

It is not a responsibility to be handed over to the church and Sunday school. In fact, in many churches and Sunday schools there is a false flag being handed to the children, and a wrong path being pointed out. The Word of God has been ignored by some, and so the blind are leading the blind. Yes, finding a true church for your family is important, but it can’t take the place of the teaching by example and speaking, when going to bed, getting up, eating meals, and walking together. This is a family task and pleasure, and one of the basic “togethernesses” commanded by God since the beginning.”

May we be “repairers of the breach” in our families.  May we lay aside everything that would hinder our efforts of truth-weaving, and pick up the baton again, pointing our children to the truth of God at every moment.