Teaching your kids can feel daunting. But teaching your kids theology can feel downright terrifying.
Some feel overwhelmed with time issues. They just don’t see how they can fit something else into their day. Others may not feel as if they have adequate theological training. They feel uncomfortable instructing their kids beyond, “Jesus loves you.”
How can you weave theological teaching into their daily lives, without necessarily setting them down for an in-depth family sermon (though there is nothing inherently wrong with that)? How can you impart good theology into the lives of your children, without possessing a theological degree (though hopefully there is nothing inherently wrong with that)?
You don’t need to feel like you’re trying out the latest parenting fad or complicated system. If you are like me, you’ll try it for a month or two and then give up because it didn’t feel natural.
Instead, here are five simple ways to teach your kids theology virtually every day.
Read the Bible
It seems obvious, and it is, but it is the foundation before anything else. Why not let God do much of the teaching for you?
He has given us His word with the Holy Spirit who works in the life of the believer to help illuminate that word. By reading the Bible to your children, you’ll allow God to speak through His word, while demonstrating that Scripture is important to you and your faith. Use it before anything else.
Will you come across passages that you don’t understand? Absolutely. Will your children ask questions that you don’t know the answer to? Sure.
Both of those are actually beneficial to your children and your own Christian walk. They can see that their mom and dad are growing too.
They’ll know it’s okay to ask questions and wrestle with some of the hard things in their faith. Hopefully, it will inspire both you and your child to seek answers through your own personal studies and also using some other sources of good theology.
Read other books together
Some of the memories I cherish the most have been times of reading to my children before they go to sleep. Along with the Bible, we’ve read devotional books, classic fiction, Christian stories and several others. I don’t have to start a discussion time with them, they naturally asked questions.
Because of our reading the books together, both of my sons are practically experts on all things Narnia and Middle Earth. They often remember scenes from the novels better than I do.
They also caught the spiritual themes before I expected. As we read through The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, they commented about how Aslan was sacrificing himself just like Jesus did.
I didn’t have to tell them that or develop a lesson for that. They naturally got it. And yours will too, if you make a habit of reading them good stories that reflect the great story.