It is January. “It’s Christmas tomorrow!” my children cheekily quip.
We haven’t gotten our dates wrong; we had just finished reading Day 24 of our Advent devotion for the night. We are simply behind schedule—but that’s okay.
Why do we bother with family devotions? Isn’t it enough to go to church on Sunday? Why do we need to schedule another activity into our busy days—especially when we can’t seem to keep up with it?
God’s Word tells us:
Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your strength.
These commandments that I give you today
are to be on your hearts.
Impress them on your children.
Talk about them when you sit at home
and when you walk along the road,
when you lie down and when you get up.
Tie them as symbols on your hands
and bind them on your foreheads.
Write them on the door-frames
of your houses and on your gates.
(Deuteronomy 6:4–9)
As Christian parents, we are to diligently teach our children all that God has commanded us. In fact, we are to do this all the time, whether we are sitting, walking, lying down, or rising. We teach not only during structured, formal, sit-down moments, but as we dwell in God’s Word, we also allow it to naturally flow out in our speech and actions throughout the day.
Family devotions, then, are simply a time set apart for us to learn from God’s Word together and to pray for each other, to remind ourselves of our dependence on God. It centres the family on God and His Word.
As you can tell, however, one of the most challenging things about family devotions is starting and then keeping at it.
Here are some lessons I’ve learnt about keeping family devotions going:
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1. Just Do It!
We often imagine family devotions taking place in the most perfect situations: children happily sitting around, Bibles in hand, paying attention to Dad or Mum teaching from the Bible.
In reality, most times, it just doesn’t look like this. Our family devotions have seen toddlers running around us in circles, our preschooler playing with Lego as we read, and uninterested preteens being present in body but not in mind.
It can be discouraging when our children do not respond enthusiastically or in the manner we expect them to. But we keep going, because it is important to us and important for them.
God continues to work in our less-than-ideal circumstances. We have been surprised by what our children recount from our time together even when they did not seem to be listening. Some days, they are even more ready and eager to read than we are.
It can be discouraging when our children do not respond enthusiastically or in the manner we expect them to. But we keep going, because it is important to us and important for them.
On challenging days, I have personally struggled with wanting to just send all my children to bed immediately. Thankfully, my husband and I are a team, and when we notice one of us being out of sorts, the other takes the lead and gathers the family for devotions.
In these difficult moments, God teaches me all the more that I need Jesus and His grace daily. These family devotions are not just for my children, they are also very much for me.
2. Have A Structure… But Be Flexible
Children thrive in structure. I found it was helpful to start reading story Bibles with all our children before bedtime when they were about 1½ years old. This became our routine, and continues to be a mainstay in our family to this day.
It is never too late to start, though. While it may be more challenging with older children, we can always start with conversations around the dinner table, then move on to more structured times of learning together.
At the same time, we also need to be flexible and adapt to our children’s age and circumstances.
Most days, we are done in about 15 minutes. It does not have to take long.
Our family devotions have taken different forms and shapes over the years as our children grew. Now that they are of school-going age, we follow a devotional guide in which we read a Bible passage together, discuss some questions about God’s Word, then pray about what we have read.
On other days, we might just sing a hymn and pray. We also talk about what we have learnt in church. Most days, we are done in about 15 minutes. It does not have to take long.
3. Don’t Give Up
It is important to not give up and keep going, even when our schedules get in the way.
There have been times where we missed a day or two of devotions, but we always made it a point to pick up where we left off. Sometimes there may be gaps of weeks, or even months. There is never a bad time to start reading God’s Word again.
As we persevere, we show our children that God and His Word matter to us. It is not about ticking off a checklist of what needs to be done, nor is it about trying to be in God’s “good books” through such endeavours.
As we persevere, we show our children that God and His Word matter to us.
In keeping at family devotions, we show our children by example that we spend time in God’s Word because we want to know our Heavenly Father, who has graciously saved us through Jesus. That is such a privilege.
4. Use Available Resources
It can be daunting to think about what we need to cover with our children. But it does not need to be complicated. There are many good, biblical resources available for families to use, and we can tap on them.
We also want to encourage our older children to read the Bible for themselves, so we follow Bible reading plans. Again, we do lapse from time to time, but we try to pick it up again as soon as we can. Ultimately, it is more important to create a culture and habit of reading God’s Word and praying with the family regularly, than to be dogmatic about doing family devotions every single day.
As we read the Bible with our children, we may worry about not being able to answer all the questions that our children have. Instead of avoiding those questions, however, we can see it as an opportunity to humbly learn and find out the answers together.
Ultimately, it is more important to create a culture and habit of reading God’s Word and praying with the family regularly, than to be dogmatic about doing family devotions every single day.
We do not need to be know-it-all parents, or have quiet, participative children before we can start reading the Bible together. God uses imperfect, weak, and helpless people to grow His church. He can do the same in our families.
We need God and His grace, as much as our children do. May God help us enjoy His Word and live it out as little families in His big church.
This article was originally published in chewailin.wordpress.com. Adapted with permission.