I don’t believe it is simplifying the matter to state that one of the reasons our world is in the state it’s in is because as a society we have lost sight of how to love God. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that we have completely forgotten the need to love God. As secularized as we have become most people at least still agree that God should be an important part of our world. The problem is that acknowledging it and even saying it are not enough. We have to do it.
If this is true, as I believe it is, there is only one hope that society has looking toward the future. We must teach our children to love God. I mean really love Him. I mean love Him in the way the Bible says to love Him, with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength (Matthew 22:37). I mean for that love to consume our lives in every conceivable way. We must teach our children to love God.
But how can we do that? I’m not going to give you a long complicated self-help guide that cites all of the experts in the field of child-rearing. I think it can be boiled down to one essential component. We, ourselves, must love God and show our children that we do. Contrary to what many people may assume, our young people are not stupid. They are very perceptive. They get it. They know when something or someone is genuine and when they are not. Parents who have only given lip-service to godly child-rearing have done us a great disservice. They have turned their children almost entirely away from any interest in God or religion whatsoever. And now we are left with not just a generation, but a general society who does not genuinely love God.
Is that a judgment? Yes, but one that is based on clear evidence around us. How can I know? Because the Bible defines loving God as keeping God’s commandments (John 14:15). Thus, if I am not keeping God’s commandments then I do not love God. Maybe you don’t agree with that, but if not you are only in disagreement with God. You cannot separate a love for God from a love for His word. His word is not only a reflection of His will; it is a reflection of who He is (John 1:1-18). A person inherently cannot accept one without the other. And in the same way one cannot be loved without the other.
If we want our children to develop a love for God we have to show them that we love Him. They need to see it when we’re sitting in our houses, when we’re walking by the way, when we are laying down, and when we rise up (Deuteronomy 6:7). It needs to be a constant in their lives. They need visible evidence that Mom and Dad love God.
But if they don’t see that, if they don’t know it, please don’t be surprised when your children grow up and God is never a priority. Don’t be shocked when they make Him secondary to many other things that will be going on in their lives. They will become what you teach them to be so teach them to love God!
-Andy Brewer