I could think of 101 reasons why I can’t do daily devotions
with my kids: such as Prissy is disruptive and it will be too late to wait till
she is asleep; Joe can’t read well which means that I will be doing most of the
reading and he ends up being distracted and bored; Clarissa can do her own
devotions as she is old enough! I’m cleared of my responsibilities, no?
Then, my brother moves back to Kampar with his brood. As his
house is still under renovation, his family of 6 stay with us and much to my
amazement, both him and my sister-in-law read the bible daily with their 4
kids. Still, I am only slightly inspired!
The crunch came when I received news that England, who once
experienced the greatest revivals and commissioned the most number of
missionaries in the past 2 centuries, has the lowest church goers statistics
compared to other Europeans counterparts and it is now at the brink of
bankruptcy! As a Christian, I do believe there is direct correlation between
the two.
“What had happened?” I wondered. “Did not the previous
generations pass on what they had experienced to the next generations?” I asked
myself. “No, the parents had failed to share Christ with their children. In
fact, they were like you, having all the excuses of not telling their children
of who their Heavenly Father is!” came the God’s gentle small voice.
That was the turning point in my parenthood. Since then, I
started reading the bible with my kids and I must say that now, there are 101 reasons
I could think of why we should do our bible devotion with our kids! :-
1.
The ten-minute bible reading helps me not only
to understand God’s words better but to understand Joseph and Clarissa better
too!
2.
Joseph gets to share and reflect about what he
had experienced during the day. I am so excited to see the thinker side of him
immerging;
3.
Although Clarissa understands what she is
reading better, I could help her see the application side of the scriptures.
Through this process, her faith has increased immensely;
4.
By being vulnerable and applying the scriptures
to my own life, I find that both of them open up to me like never before. I am
sure glad that they are willing to share whatever that is bothering them.
5.
Most of all, we could all see God at work in our
lives, through our struggles and our successes. He is indeed real in us and
that is the greatest reward that I could ever ask for.
From what I heard the situation in UK is really bad. In Singapore, we have cinemas beign turned into churches, but in the UK, churches were turned into residential homes, cafes, and other commercial uses, purely because the attendance was too miserable to sustain the churches.
ReplyDeleteThe impression I got about the USA, is that the decline in numbers, is not the only thing, the embracing of all sorts of alternative interpetations of the Word and Christian faith are staggering. One survey showed this:
"The American population self-identifies as predominantly Christian but Americans are slowly becoming less Christian. 86% of American adults identified as Christians in 1990 and 76% in 2008.
The historic Mainline churches and denominations have experienced the steepest declines while the non-denominational Christian identity has been trending upward particularly since 2001.
The challenge to Christianity in the U.S. does not come from other religions but rather from a rejection of all forms of organized religion."
You are right on, how we failed to inculcate in our children, the heritage of our faith!
The Great Commission calls for us to bring salvation to people and to teach them all that the Lord has commanded. The minumum we can do, is to do all of that, for our children. We have no excuse, do we? No.
Fee, keep up the good works.
Anthony Chia, high.expressions
hi Anthony
ReplyDeletei could count on you with the vital research N statistics. yes, its indeed alarming. i just hope that our world is not turning into sodom and gomorrah! :(
Lovely sharing. I don't know why you don't do more. I find it a joy to read.
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