As parents or grandparents, teachers or care givers, we want our kids to be good. For a lot of reasons, we want them to be good. For one, it’s just all-around easier that way.
Ultimately, though, we want them to learn to do good. We want them to want to do good. And, we want them to do good.
Being good – moral – is important. It comes from a compass that directs us toward right and keeps us from wrong. Without a reason for morality, though, the compass can become out of vogue and the pull of right from wrong grows faint. So, it is not enough to just be good. Is there a reason to want to be good?
We need to determine by what, or rather by whom, our compass is aligned. We need that to be the goodness of God – God himself.
In our Christian home or setting, we have the opportunity to teach children not only how to have a moral compass to be good, but who made the good – God himself. This is a privilege and, for believers, an expectation from God. God directs parents to teach their children about himself and what he has done. In reference to God’s commands being faithfully obeyed, brought about by loving him and serving him with our whole soul, God said, “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 11:19 NIV). Jesus told his followers to “make disciples… teaching them to obey everything I have taught you” (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV). The apostle Paul encourages believers to “let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16a NIV). The teaching and learning is to be passed along through the generations.
One reason God created the family is for parents to teach children who God is, what he has done, and why we need Jesus and how to live in relationship with him. Many children who grow up in a Christian family learn right from wrong; however, they may not get taught or see modeled the reason why they should be moral. The desire to honor God, and the reasons why, should be woven into the fabric of everyday living, so that a relationship with God is central to who they are and become.
Are you wanting to do more of this with your children? When you use Do LAPS! or Do LAPS! Volume 2, you aren’t just teaching your children how to be moral. You are teaching them who God is, what he has done, and how to live for him because of who he is. In your family, God will be glorified as he is Learned about, his lessons are Applied, his words are Prayed, and his truths are Studied! As a family, you will do LAPS!
Check out the engaging and straight-forward ways a Do LAPS! book will bless your family!