Victory is Found in Knowing Jesus AND His Word – Part 1

Hosea 4:6a (NKJV)
⁶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…

A well-known minister of the gospel recounted a conversation he had with a young woman who was attending his Bible college.  He said that she had come to him to thank him for what she was learning at his school.  She said she had changed her attitude on things like abortion, etc. since attending classes.  Almost in disbelief the minister asked her how she as a Christian could have believed that abortion was okay (as well as some of the other things she had shared with him).  Her answer was quite revealing. She said that while she loved Jesus, she had little knowledge of what the Word of God said.

As believing parents (grandparents, this is for you also) we know that introducing our children to Jesus is the most the important thing we can do for them in life.  But if we stop there, we have stopped short of giving them what they need to succeed in life.  Knowing Jesus opens the door to eternal life with Him.  However, there is a whole lot of living to be done before experiencing that joy. Without a knowledge of what the Word of God says, a believer’s success in this life will be severely limited. Note the scripture above says, “My people”, not the people of the world are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  A top priority for us as parents must be to make sure our children have a working knowledge of the Word of God. “Working knowledge” means facing everyday challenges by using God’s Word to navigate through them. That will require more than just a once or twice-a-week trip to church.

Deuteronomy 6:6,7 (MSG) gives us a clear direction:
^6-9Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. What exactly does that mean to us today? We are to weave the Word into every part of our children’s daily routine.

We need to teach our children that the Word of God is their plumb line or their measuring stick, meaning the standard by which all things are judged. Kids in the world today get just the opposite of that – they are told they need to decide for themselves what is right or wrong.  There are so many voices out there today that if our children do not have a knowledge of the Word in their hearts it will be almost impossible for them not to be pulled astray at one time or another.

We must help our children understand that to spend time in God’s Word is to spend time with Jesus. (John 1:14) We need to convey to them that what the Word says is what Jesus would say if He were with them in person. For our children to enjoy the abundant life Jesus died to give them (John 10:10), they must have a revelation that it is God’s Word that will give them the strength and stability necessary to swim upstream in a world that is heading downstream at an ever-increasing rate.

Note: In the next month’s post we will look at to how to incorporate God’s Word into the lives of our children.

4/21