Put the Bible Back

The following post is from my longtime, good friend Rachael Gould.  You can find her blog Infinitely Blessed by clicking here.

I have seen post after post about the Bible being put back into schools in some states and how we need it in every school in every state.

It isn’t that I disagree with that, I just think we are too quick to pass the buck, so to speak.  It is easy to blame the schools, the teachers, the church, or the preacher but the spiritual and all other responsibilities for raising a child start at home. 

I know that the worldview is that it “takes a village to raise a child.”  That is simply not true. 

It is great to have the support of a village or family or friends but it takes a parent to raise a child.  That is why God gave us parents and did not just let us be weaned and left to fend for ourselves as He does for the animal kingdom.  In fact, we see in Ephesians chapter 6 that there are specific instructions for parents and children,

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” 

We have a responsibility to teach our children the ways of the Lord which will benefit them for both physically (long life) and spiritually (eternal life). 

How is that not happening?

As hard as it is to admit, we need to put the Bible and God back in the home.  Oh I know, we go to church, we are Christians, we love the Lord, but are we really passing that to the next generation? 

When is the last time we sat down, turned off the television or any electronics and just read the Bible with our children?  Do any of us do that every day?  That is the Bible back in our homes.  No one wants to do that.  Blame the government or the schools but do not take any personal responsibility.  We are too busy.  Do our children have the Bible on the phone or tablet?  Do they actually read it?  Most of them do not. 

The Bible is for us to teach.  This is a spiritual battle.  And we are losing the battle for the next generation.

It is happening every day:  parents are blaming children because they are doing drugs, drinking, smoking, watching porn, lying, stealing, and cheating. 

Where are they learning this?  Fellow parents, they are learning it on our watch. 

Oh but, we are adults, we should be able to do what we want to do, right?  No, if we say we are Christians, we are saying that we gave up what we want to live for Christ and we are to be an example for others, especially the children that God gave us. 

Oh, I know that there are days when we jokingly want to “give them back” but truthfully, we blame God when anything goes wrong and forget that we asked for this when we became parents.  We agreed to be responsible and willing love them but we want to “bail” when they are perfect.  Guess what, we are not perfect either.  I am glad God does not bail out on me.

Now, this may seem a little drastic but I have actually heard adoptive parents say that they would like to give a child back because the child was too hard to deal with.  Hmmm, that parent may be a little hard to deal with but let us hope that God is more merciful toward them than they are showing. 

Others may not think they would ever have that opinion but we are in a sense “giving’ our children to the world when we fail to teach them the truth.  I mean the real truth, God’s word not mine.  That is what is going to change them and us.  Let us put the Bible back in our own homes and schools and teach our children by example.