Fathers, Bring Them Up: A Devotional

Picture by Deedra Levy

So...as I've written previously that the change of a culture starts at home, here is what I do, in part, to actually fulfill my obligation, of raising up my girls in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4), as God gives me grace and strength (Rom. 11:36).

​Of course, you need to know that this is a very flexible schedule. The times can be altered for sure. Also, please don't imagine any of these activities as perfect little sessions. ​​They are not. It's organized chaos with orderly discipline installed as necessary (to the best of my ability as God gives me grace).

 But even then, these are toddlers we're talking about. So there's lot of energy.

Also...know that I'm certainly not saying in any way that this is the way to bring your children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. There are so many ways to do this; and this is just one of them. And in reality, this is only a part of it (as it really is something done all throughout the day, each and every day - Deut. 6:4-7). And, yes, while I'm a huge proponent of homeschooling; this is something (or something similar) that can be done, even when not homeschooling your children (obviously with some scheduling exceptions).

But without further ado...here is our schedule (and again, that term is used lightly):

Monday - Friday

6:30a - Wake up the girls and get them ready for the day (brush teeth, change to play clothes, etc.)
6:45a - Read Scripture* with girls and have prayer time with them
7:15a - Get ready/leave for work
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5-6p - Dinner with family; Scripture memory together*
7-7:30p - Get girls ready for bed (brush teeth, change into PJs, etc.)
7:30-8:15p - Systematic theology/devotional* (and books of their choice as well), prayer, and song

Saturday

Instead of reading through Scripture in the morning, I'll recite Psalm 1 for them, with the future plans that later it will be with them - working our way through other passages of similar length.

​Then we do a lesson of Church History.*
​

Sunday

As with Saturday, instead of reading through Scripture in the morning, I'll recite Psalm 1 for them, with the future plans that later it will be with them - working our way through other passages of similar length.

​And then we'll do a lesson on missions* working our way through Operation World.
​

*Explanatory Notes

Here is where I further comment on all the *'s. 

When I say I read Scripture with the girls, it's going to vary based on their age. Obviously, my hope is that as they get older, we'll read directly from a modern, solid translation of Scripture (in my opinion, unless something drastic happens, it would be the English Standard Version).

But until that time comes, I've either paraphrased the Scripture to them from my own reading (which, while challenging and personal, does not provide the consistency with other children's versions of the Bible), or I've used a published children's version of the Bible (sometimes edited by me because of the bias in the interpretation of God's Word).

​In the past we've used The Beginner's Bible, and The Jesus Storybook Bible. We are currently using The Story Bible (ESV Edition), by Concordia Publishing. They all have their pros and cons. But for our purposes and where our girls are at, The Story Bible is very good in regard to using actual ESV Scripture but also speaking at a level that a 4 year old can understand.

Scripture memory time we do at dinner is actually memorizing word-for-word from the "adult" version of Scripture (in our case, the ESV). Dinner seems to be the best time for all of us to do this together. I'll read the verse aloud three times; and then we'll all repeat it as a family. The pace seems to be we'll memorize one verse of Scripture every one to two weeks. That may not seem like a lot, but it includes our 2 1/2 year old; and I think it brings the family together in God's Word. (This is not a hands-down endorsement of the Charlotte Mason curriculum or method of education; but I have found their free list of printable index cards Scripture verses to be very helpful).

Obviously Scripture is the main focal point (Jn. 17:17) of bringing our children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). But a helpful way of seeing what Scripture entails and how it applies ("Systematic Theology" and/or "Devotional") is part of that training. So that is why I include a systematic theology/devotional to use each night with the girls - as well as a hymn or other spiritual song (Eph. 5:19). The systematics/devotions are like the Bible versions. They'll vary depending on the age of the girls, etc. In the past we've done, First Catechism: Teaching Children Bible Truths; Big Truths for Little Kids; and The Garden, the Curtain, and the Cross. Currently we are alternating between The Biggest Story and Everything a Child Should Know About God​.

We'll occasionally throw The Great Elephant in there for good measure. It's a terrific book, but it's long and does not have chapters, thus making it difficult for a evening read right before bed.

In reality, there's no end to the supply of devotional or systematic theology material for children available. My task at this is to ensure the material level gets deeper as they grow. 

I'm sure when they're a little older we'll work through the works of R.C. Sproul for children and the book The Ology. But like I said, there's no shortage of good material for kids.

Regarding our singing of a hymn together, that's another story. At least for me, it's been hard to find a good recording of hymns being sung to which we can sing along. Now, why do we need a recording to sing along? It's certainly not necessary; but for us, I've found it helps. I didn't grow up learning the classic hymns, and I think it's greatly beneficial for our girls to know them - even from a young age. But I can hardly lead the singing when I don't know them myself. So I've looked for recordings. The problem is that in order for the kids to "feel" the music enough to sing along, they're most captured by that vibe when they hear the voice of other children.

The best I've come across so far (as a start) is ​The Kids Hymnal: 80 Songs and Hymns. This is music sung by children (of decent quality) with lyrics to actual hymns. There is an accompanying song book that goes with it as well to help me learn the words too: ​The Kids Hymnal. There is a separate spiral bound piano accompaniment book if that suits your needs/desires better.

I will mention, not all 80 "Songs and Hymns" are actual hymns. But there are enough to get us started, as it takes the girls (and myself) a while to learn them. The goal is to sing the same hymn each night until we have it memorized and can sing it ourselves without accompaniment.

The plus side to this is that it ties in with our church history lesson. As noted earlier, our Saturday mornings have a church history element. We currently use The Church History ABCs. But in the evenings, when we have a new hymn to learn, we'll learn about the author of that hymn. This lesson usually comes from the work: Then Sings My Soul: 150 of the World's Greatest Hymns Stories. This book not only has a couple stanzas of the hymn, but a great overview of the life and ministry of the author of the hymn and the events surrounding its composition.

And now we've arrived at Sundays. We try to keep a focus on our missionary friends on Sundays with our prayer time. And in the morning devotions we'll give a special attention to a new people group that we'll learn about through the book, Operation World. We'll read about a country/people group, and I'll point it out on the map for them. Then we'll say our prayer for that group and our missionary friends in various parts of the world.

Yes, I realize it will take us a while to get through Operation World, but it helps us to give them a good perspective on the Great Commission and the vastness of God's Kingdom in this world as it comes (Mt. 6:10; cf. Mt. 28:18-20, Ps. 2:8; Isa. 11:9).

Remember, of course, this is a flexible schedule to us. If we get back late from a Saturday evening social event, I'm not going to keep our overly-exhausted girls awake with a church history lesson.

At the same time, this is not all there is - as I see it - in bringing them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. From the people we interact with to the things we do throughout the day, in God's grace my goal is to bring all that they observe and experience back to the person and work of Christ (Col. 1:16-17; Eph. 1:9-10).

This includes what I like to call Worldview Movie Nights, where we enjoy the entertainment of Pixar and other companies; but pause it throughout to discuss what's going on in the movie and what God's Word has to say about it.

That's our "schedule" anyway; and I hope in some small way it might be helpful to some other fathers out there. I pray we all take our duty as fathers seriously (Eph. 6:4), and, by His grace (Col. 1:29), bring them up to love Him and their neighbors (Lk. 10:27) through the gospel of Christ (1 Jn. 4:19).