Family Devotionals – Page 18 – Parenting Like Hannah

Do Your Kids Need Christian Apologetics?

Christian apologetics isn’t what it may sound like. It’s not apologizing for being a Christian or for Christian beliefs. Rather it provides the answers to the questions and challenges to Christianity in the world.

It’s part Bible knowledge, part critical thinking skills and part good communication skills. Done well, it relies primarily on scripture while pointing out the logical fallacies and error in the question or challenge.

Because apologetics is based on truth, most great apologists are kind and loving as they present their case. Since God’s Truth is on their side, there is no need for the emotional ugliness that is often a part of debates. While great apologists hope those listening are persuaded, primarily because of the eternal consequences of rejecting God, they are usually passionate about the truth while still being considerate and respectful towards those with whom they disagree.

This doesn’t mean that apologists are perfect. Some may still have been swayed by inaccurate theological arguments from time to time. Most of them seem to avoid topics, however, that can divide Christians and focus on the basics of Christianity upon which most Christians would believe.

Apologetic materials are much easier to find than in the past. Many have materials designed for kids and teens, as well as adults. You can find some information free online. There are videos on Right Now Media, to which many churches will give families free access codes. There are also plenty of books which you can purchase from almost anyone who sells books.

Some apologists are so well known, you may be familiar with their work. Lee Strobel, Ravi Zacharius, J Warner Wallace and Sean McDowell are probably the best known. While I haven’t read everything each of these men has written, the things I have read were well done and biblical. As with anything though, it’s best to read any books or watch the videos before sharing them with your kids.

There are also highly focused groups that are part apologetics and part science. Answers in Genesis has some great scientific materials that are strong in both apologetics and science. Lee Strobel also has a book, Case for the Creator, which is filled with more scientific information than your kids probably care to digest.

Apologetics used to be somewhat optional. With even some ministers and churches questioning what have always been considered main tenets of Christianity, it’s important your kids thoroughly understand what they believe and why they believe it. Not only will it strengthen their personal faith foundations, but it will also make it easier for them to share their faith effectively.

Fun Way to Teach Kids to Make Godly Choices

Life is about decisions. Make godly choices and you will have fewer negative consequences that result. Make poor choices and you may spend the rest of your life dealing with the negative consequences. It’s not a perfect system, because we live in a Fallen world. Regardless of how accurately the consequences are given on earth, however, we know God will judge fairly in the end.

The problem is that kids and teens are rarely taught any tools for making good choices. What results is a lot of trial and error. Kids who are attentive, detail oriented and learn from the mistakes of others will often make good choices more consistently. As a result, we think it is some skill set with which we are born and either use or don’t use.

Instead of relying on your kids to self educate on making godly choices, why not give them a few tools to use? We have a free printable parenting guide on the Teach One Reach One Ministries website, but there are several other tools you can give your kids.

One is the decision flow chart. It can be a lot of fun to teach and learn. It’s probably best to start with an example that’s fairly simple and straight forward. Grab some paper and writing instruments and show your kids the example.

Let’s say the choice is whether or not to cheat on a test. Write down the question “Should I cheat on this test?”. Then draw two diverging arrows from the question. On one arrow write “yes” and on the other write “no”. This is a great example, because it illustrates how only thinking out one step can lead to making a huge mistake. This is because the first results are actual deceptive. If your child cheats, he or she will get a good grade and if he or she doesn’t, they may fail.

Then ask them what could happen next. From this point forward, you may have multiple arrows from each option. For example, if they fail the test, they may have additional negative consequences, but they could also get extra help from the teacher or you might hire a tutor to help them.

As the adult, you will need to guide the flow chart at first. They may not have the life experience to realize cheating is lying and they might begin lying to everyone or lose the trust of others because they lied. They may not realize that while extra help and tutoring sound boring, mastering the content is crucial for where they want to go in life.

You can give them more practice using Bible stories. What if the person in the story had made the opposite choice? How might things have changed? There is actually a entire genre of literature based on people in secular history making the opposite choices and what might have happened.

Whenever your child is faced with a decision and time allows, employ this flow chart method. It isn’t perfect, because we live in a fallen world, but your life experience has probably taught you there are definite patterns.

If your child points out times when things didn’t go as expected on the flow chart, talk about it. Explain what happened when sin entered God’s perfect world and disrupted it. Discuss God’s plan of redemption. Remind them of the importance of obeying God, even if Satan gives us negative consequences in the moment for our obedience to God.

Teaching your kids to make good choices takes time and effort. It’s worth it though to help your kids avoid unnecessary negative consequences from using the trial and error method.

Tips for Helping Your Family Grow Spiritually If You Are Quarantined

Let’s be honest. None of us really wants to be quarantined for a long period of time whether it’s from this virus or something else. The good news is that a lot of healthy families are being quarantined at home. We don’t know how many of us or how long any one area will find everyone at home before the virus peaks and life resumes as normal.

If you find your family at home for any period of time, don’t waste that precious time. You may have few other opportunities to connect as a family in this way. There are a lot of ways you can take advantage of this time and use it to better prepare your kids to be who God wants them to be.

Reconnect emotionally. Have those long conversations. Find out what everyone is thinking and feeling about all sorts of topics. Get to really know and appreciate each other. And limit time on devices to no more than an hour or two a day outside of time required for school or work.
Have fun together. Play games. Watch silly old kid movies. Tell jokes and stories. Have tea parties. Build forts with blankets. Have a family sleep over. Just enjoy being together.
Start or entrench habits of spiritual disciplines. Family devotionals, independent Bible reading, prayer, meditating on scriptures…all of those habits that will make you and your kids stronger spiritually, but you never seem to have time to practice. Challenge and encourage each other to establish good spiritual habits that will keep all of you connected to God each day.
Serve others. Whether or not people can leave their homes seems to vary from place to place. FaceTime people who may be isolated at home alone. Help others as much as whatever restrictions you are under will allow. Model unselfish behavior by not hoarding supplies, but sharing.
Read good books aloud. Most adults don’t realize it, but even many teens still enjoy hearing a great book read aloud. C.S. Lewis stories appeal to all ages as do many other great books that allow you to have interesting family conversations. You should have access to e-books even if libraries close and many classics you can find online free or at very low cost.
Look for God working in the world today. Things like pandemics can make some people question whether or not God still loves us and cares about us. They may feel like God has disappeared. Point out the small blessings God sends your way each day. Celebrate God’s goodness as He gives people gifts to develop new medicines and vaccines to end the current health issues facing us. Remind your kids daily that God is alive and walking beside us even when scary things happen.

I doubt any of us will be volunteering to be quarantined for fun. Taking advantage of the opportunities it may present your family to grow closer and more godly if it is required of you though, may bring your family more benefits than just good health.

Fun Ways to Teach Your Kids Self Control

Self control is a fruit of the Spirit with a definition that is the same for both people who are secular and Christians. The one twist is that a Christian’s self control can lessen the chances of temptations leading to sinful behaviors.

Did you know that a famous longitudinal study found that self control is a crucial predictor of success in school, careers and relationships? Have you noticed it seems to be less valued and practiced in our world today than even a few decades ago? (Or at least people aren’t trying as hard to hide their lack of self control).

Because of the current climate in our world, you will need to help your kids understand WHY self control is so important to God. Otherwise, they will get caught up in a world view that says it’s important to “live your truth” and express it loudly to anyone and everyone.

Samson in the book of Judges is a great example of a person who seemed to have real self control issues pretty much his entire life. God was able to use Samson in spite of his lack of self control, but one can only imagine what Samson’s life might have been like if he could have controlled his words and actions.

The Apostle Peter is another great example of someone who at times suffered from a lack of self control. Point out to your kids that as Peter learned some hard lessons from Jesus, God was able to use him more and more…to the point where he became an effective evangelist and author of two books in the Bible.

There are some fun ways to help your kids practice self control. It’s important to understand a huge part of self control is self awareness. What is my body getting ready to do? What does my mouth want to say? Recognizing the warning signs that they are about to lose control and walking away instead is huge. It’s much easier to stop ourselves from beginning a sinful behavior than it is to stop when we are already sinning.

Creating awareness. You can start by asking your kids to show you how you act when you are happy, sad, mad, etc. Have they figured out the warning signs that they are about to get in trouble? Make this light hearted and fun. If you have trouble laughing at yourself, show photos of people expressing different emotions and see if your kids can correctly identify them. After you have had some fun, ask them if they can tell when they are beginning to get angry? When are other times they tend to get in trouble for not having self control? Have they noticed warning signs right before they make a bad choice? Give them strategies to use at the first sign they may soon lose control. Help them practice them and provide gentle reminders (like a secret hand signal) when you see warning signs, but they seem oblivious.
You can’t eat just one. Is there a temptation your kids seem to have trouble avoiding? It doesn’t have to be food, but that is often more fun. How long can they walk past that chocolate chip cookie (or whatever) without giving in to the temptation to eat it? Who in your family can avoid eating their favorite treat the longest? At some point, you can declare a winner and allow everyone their treat. As you enjoy, talk about strategies they used to resist the temptation a little longer. Could any of those strategies help them in other situations?
Baking and serving. Nothing is more tempting when cooking than fresh baked goods! Get your kids to help you make a dessert or bread that smells great when baking. Then take every morsel and give it to someone else. Afterwards talk about how hard it was to share and not keep at least a little for yourselves. How can they remember to deny themselves and serve others when they have the opportunity? (Putting other’s needs before your own is both scriptural and a way to practice self control.)
Controlling words and thoughts. Controlling their actions is easier for some kids than others. For kids who seem to have self control, begin discussing the need to control our words, thoughts and attitudes in addition to our behaviors. Since much of this is between only them and God or can be easily hidden or justified in their minds, this is a deeper discussion for older kids and teens. Have them look for people in the Bible and in the real world who seem to have good behaviors, but their words and attitudes indicate their heart may not be as self controlled as their actions. What are things they can do to be aware of any issues they have in these areas and address them? Can they benefit from others helping hold them accountable in some way? (This is a great way to also point out some of the possible benefits of being in a healthy Christian community.)

Self control is so important to living the Christian life, you must spend a lot of time working on it with your kids. If they have poor self control, they will have a very difficult time obeying God.