I think this is one of the reasons that He made a point to say, “Let the little children come to me” as He was teaching. The disciples thought they were protecting Jesus’s time with the adults, but Jesus knew that time with Him is not an adults-only party. Children need to be brought into His presence as well.
When we do more than teach our children about God, when we show them what it looks like to worship Him, to be led by Him, and to read His Word, we are doing what our Father in heaven did. We are showing our children how to be more like Him.
He’s saying to us the same thing He said to the disciples, Let the children come to Me. Let them hear the Word. Let them encounter the Word. Let them watch you as you meet with Me. This is not something you have to do in private. This is not something you have to do distraction free. This is a family meeting. As you model for them what it looks like for an adult to be a lover of My presence, you give them something to practice now and replicate when they’re grown.
Finding time to spend with the Lord can be hard in seasons of constant going, but when we bring our children to the party too, we are doing eternal kingdom work. That just might change how we look at studying the Word in the presence of our kids.
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Excerpted from TRUTH UNCHANGING by Becky Thompson Copyright © 2019 by Rebecca F. Thompson. Published by WaterBrook, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC on April 16, 2019.