Knowing God versus Knowing About God

In her book "Spiritual Parenting", Michelle Anthony writes "We are raising children in a world that denies absolute truth. Yet God's Word offers just that. As we create an environment that upholds and displays God's truth, we give children a foundation that is based on knowing God, believing His Word, and having a relationship with Him through Christ. These are essentials for our faith, and they all begin with knowing God. It's easy to get swept away with the tide of knowing about God. We can memorize a host of Bible verses and facts and still not truly know God. This was true of religious people of Jesus' day, and it can be true today if we're not cautious. Knowing God must always be the center of all we do."

"These are the essentials for our faith and they all begin with knowing God"
1) Create an environment that upholds and displays God's truth
How are you doing this in your home? What kind of environment are you creating that upholds and displays God's truth? Could this be done through communication of God's truth, over time, with our children? Possibly through a "faith talk", or a "faith walk.

2) we give children a foundation that is based on knowing God,
How can we build that foundation in our homes? Could it be by living your lives as a parent or parents that the children "see" that you have a personal relationship with God, that your relationship with God is real and they can see by what you say and do that you truly do "know" God, so they will want to know Him like you do.

3) believing His Word and having a relationship with Him through Christ.
How will our children believe His Word and have a relationship with Jesus Christ?
By having "faith talks", the children get to experience His word through the scripture itself and through "faith walks". We(all who profess to be Christians) have been commissioned to "make disciples" by Jesus Christ himself, through His last words on this earth, in Matthew 28:19-20, "Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you."

Our first priority as parents should be to "make disciples" of our children, which begins with them understanding that they are a sinner in need of a Savior and them accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We can't do that as parents, unless we have understood this and made that decision for ourselves.Do our children "know" that about us? Can they "see" in our actions that we are truly a disciple of Jesus Christ?

Once we have made that commitment ourselves, we can begin to provide all of the above(1 through 3).
If you don't feel adequate, it's because you are not. None of us are perfect. No one on this earth is perfect, but through our prayers, through our own study of God''s Word, through our own quest to "know" God, being a disciple ourselves, we can help our children to KNOW GOD versus know about Him.



 Terry Langenberg
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