Kids and the Bible

Every morning (when I'm not already gone for a meeting or class) I read a small portion of Scripture to my children (from the NLT) and we each pray in turn before I send them off on the bus to school.  This is our daily routine.  I realized that during these times we end up discussing all sorts of things we might not otherwise discuss.

For instance, my daughter Abbi (8), after I read about Jesus delivering a man from an "unclean spirit", she asked where demons come from.  I was able to tell her that the Scriptures don't actually talk about that (even though lots of folks talk like the Bible clearly answers this sort of question -- I did assure her that they were not simply the ghosts of dead people...which was her thought), but simply stated that the Bible is clear that they are disobedient and try to hurt people...but Jesus has power and authority over them.  Jesus had come to set people free and that is what He still does!  And when we give our lives to Jesus we have power and authority over them from Jesus as well to help see people set free.

This just drove home to me the truth of Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (NLT): "And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up." 

In other words...our children were not meant to simply "catch" what the truth of Scripture.  NO!  We are to daily and repeatedly every day...to instruct them...and talk about them intentionally.  This creates an atmosphere where we actually train up our children in the Scriptures instead of just expecting them to "get it" from Sunday School and Church.  I must admit I haven't always done this...but I have been reminded through the questions of my children about trouble with friends, miracle-stories in the Bible, forgiveness, and where demons come from that I know that we must be intentional about the formal spiritual instruction of our families...to even create proper space for the informal instruction of our families.

Forever Listening to the Spirit

I recently read something by Lesslie Newbigin (that great missionary statesman of the twentieth century) that struck a chord with me.  He wrote the following concerning the Jerusalem congregation's recognition of the validity of the Gentile mission that Peter had just returned from (Acts 10-11):

"They were silenced because they had to recognize something new. Jesus had never spoken or acted to call in question the law of circumcision (as he had called in question the law of the Sabbath). The Church was entering a new way which it had not trodden before. Nor did the Church formulate a new policy in this matter by reflection upon and development of the remembered words of Jesus. It was a fresh action of the living Spirit which confronted the Church with the necessity for a new decision. 'The word of Jesus is not a collection of doctrines that is in need of supplementation, nor is it a developing principle that will only be unfolded in the history of ideas; as the Spirit's proclamation it always remains the word spoken into the world from beyond' (Bultmann). But this word is the word of Jesus; it is not another word. The work of the Spirit does not lead past, or beyond, or away from Jesus." (The Light Has Come: An Exposition of the Fourth Gospel Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.B.Eerdmans, 1982, pp.216-7)

We, as well, cannot simply treat the Scriptures as a comprehensive list (or we may end up being no different than some of the Pharisees of Jesus' own day--unless we take the New Pauline Perspective on the Pharisees as genuine) of do's and don't's. In every age we are called to listen to the voice of the Spirit which is the voice of the Lord Jesus speaking to His Church the very words of his Father. None of this is to suggest that there will be any discord between what God has spoken, is speaking and will speak. The Scriptures are our measure, but the Scriptures are not simply words that can be adopted apart from the working of the Holy Spirit within us. This means that in all of our hearing, we must press in to hear exactly what the Spirit is saying and once we have heard...to obey.