My wife and I want to have family devotions with our children, but no matter how many times we've tried, our good intentions dissolve. Either the kids are bored and can't wait to do something else, or I get too busy to get everyone together on a regular basis. How does everyone else do it?

You are not alone. Thousands of Christian parents struggle with how to live up to the Christian ideal of "family devotions."

I struggled when our children were growing up. Somewhere, Arlie and I picked up the idea that we had to have family devotions at a certain time each day (at the dinner table) and for a certain length of time.

But we found it wasn't always practical, or even wise, to live up to an ideal. There were nights when little league practice, a school play, something at church, or a dozen other things crowded our family devotions and even crowded them out. We sensed that at times it actually would have been counterproductive to go ahead with our ideal. And we didn't want to risk turning the children off to the whole idea.

I believe our children love the Word of God today because we made our occasional visits into the Word times of delight. We tried lots of approaches. Sometimes they worked; sometimes they bombed. When they bombed, we admitted it and waited for a better time. Devotions at our house became "irregularly" regular times of delight rather than oppressively regular times of drudgery.

It may help you to know that all of our children are grown now, and the fruit is on the tree. They are all Christians, have married Christians, and are raising their children in Christian homes. My son and I have co-authored about twenty Christian books for children.

I've thought a lot about what worked and what didn't in this area of spiritual leadership in my home, and I've gleaned the following principles.

1. Love for the Lord flows naturally from love for His Word.
2. A consistent time for family devotions is great as long as guilt and routine stay in the background.
3. If you don't give up, you can find a format that works.
4. If you ask Him, God will give you abundant grace and wisdom to be a good parental spiritual leader.

Delightful Devotions

How do we apply these principles? With all my heart I believe that the first step in leading our children to Christ, and to a lifetime of walking with Him, is not force-feeding Bible knowledge. Rather, it is helping them to love God's Word, to see it as a user-friendly reflection of the Living Word, our Lord Jesus. Jeremiah 15:16 says, "When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight."

How can we help our children "consume" God's Word so that it becomes their "hearts' delight"? Here are some suggestions.

1. Speak with a positive attitude. Try not to say things like: "You will not get out of that chair until we are through"; "Be quiet and listen!"; "One more giggle out of you and you'll go to your room!" Reinforce a positive attitude by saying things like: "Guess which wonderful person we're going to meet in the Bible tonight?"; "Let's have a contest to see who can . . ."; "I'm so excited about the Bible passage we're going to read."

2. Keep devotions on the bright side. Where did we ever get the idea that holiness is somber or gloomy? Encourage a few giggles; don't squelch them. Let a child interrupt with something funny she heard that day. Make up a game to guess Bible facts. How about having cake and ice cream with devotions?

3. Link learning about the Bible with building your child's self-esteem. "Kathy! What a wonderful thought!" "Ron, you're a brave, young man like Joshua, you know." "Jan, you're my little helper, just like Dorcas."

4. Use a Bible or Bible book geared to your child's age level. When I couldn't find what I wanted, I wrote three age-graded Bibles for children: The Toddler's Bible, (birth to age three, Victor Books); (The Early Readers Bible, Questar); and (The Bible for Children, elementary age to preteen, Tyndale House).

Here are some of my favorite devotional books for children: Ken Taylor's The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes; Good News for Little People; and Wise Words for Little People. Mack Thomas's What Would Jesus Do? and The Bible Tells Me So; and Stephen Barclift's The Beginner's Devotional. Mary Hollingsworth has written some books that shout "delight"; The King's Numbers; The King's Alphabet; and Polka Dots, Stripes, Humps'n Hatracks.

5. Ask yourself if you've delighted in the Word today. If you haven't, read Psalm 119 and recapture some of your passion for God's Word. Most likely, your children's attitude will reflect your own.

Above all, keep in mind the ultimate purpose of family devotions: to help your children know the Lord, love Him, and walk in His ways. When your grown children make devotions with their own children a priority, you'll be glad for every moment you spent with them in the delights of His Word.

© Copyright 2005 Smalley Relationship Center. Used by permission.

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