How to Train Your Children to Serve the Lord Jesus Christ

First of all, parents must teach by example. Your children are not going to church alone and it is not enough to send them with a friend or neighbor. As with everything, parents are the child’s first and most important teacher. As soon as the pediatrician gives you the go-ahead to take your newborn to church, he should take him there. Going to church is a habit and the sooner you start, the sooner that habit will start. Not just for your child, parents need to keep that habit. Make sure it is a Bible teaching church. If not, you can really confuse yourself and your children.

Modeling behavior isn’t just about going to church; It’s much more than that. Are you showing your child the love of Christ every day? Are they watching you pray? Are you making decisions like Christ’s? Are you serving others? These are all ways that you can show your child what it means to be a Christian. Sunday School is another place directly available to teach children and Jesus.

What does it mean to show a child the love of Christ every day? Helping others for no other reason than because they need help. Jesus never took money to help others. Are you shaping this behavior? It’s hard, people will take advantage of your kindness. Has someone asked you for money? Offer if you can, if they come back again, offer to help them sit down with their bills and help them make better use of their money. Jesus was a teacher, not a martyr.

Do your children see you pray? Do they hear you pray for them by name every day? Encourage them to pray about everything. When they leave the house every morning, you tell them you love them. Tell them that you will pray for them today. What an encouragement you can be to your children by praying for them. If you know they are having a particularly difficult trial, ask what time that trial will be so you can pray for them at that exact time. What a confidence boost that is for your child.

Are you making Christ-like decisions in your daily life? Are you swearing, drinking and going out to parties? If you don’t think your child is watching your every move, think again. They need to see that you are living what you are teaching. Explain to them why they can’t go to certain parties, why you don’t drink or swear. Explain that you are trying to live a God-filled life and that you don’t think God sees this as positive behavior.

Be sure to read your Bible with them and where they can see you read it. They need to understand that there are instructions for our lives throughout the Bible and that the only way they are going to learn what they are is by reading the Bible.

Children are desperate for knowledge. Make it count. Remember that you are his example at all times.