When teaching your children about faith it is important to balance for them the second and most powerful half of the faith equation; God’s role and responsibility backing it.     

The faith we are attempting to teach our children is more than what they  do to please God, it is also what He does through them in accomplishing His will.   Analogous to this, faith  is a two way street with five lanes  of God’s traffic coming toward our children , and one lane returning ( their response)  .  In other words,  their faith is realized only because  God is the one to arouse it.  

This aroused faith comes from many different divine traffic lanes, including God’s rearrangement of circumstances.       “ He leads me in the paths of righteousness,”    is the description of a shepherd leading his sheep from comfortable green pastures to  mountain paths filled with  rocks and dangerous drop-offs.   The shepherd  realizes he must move the sheep in order for them to survive.   If they were to stay in the green pasture, they would graze it to disintegration.   The end of the journey lies beyond the mountains;  the green pasture is only temporary.   In order to get the sheep moving, the shepherd does something quite startling.     Before he crosses the river,  he puts the  youngest sheep over his shoulder in order to encourage the other sheep to cross.    As the sheep look on, their confidence increases; soon they begin to cross the river, keeping their sight on the youngest sheep.      This is God’s role and responsibility in faith.    He is the one who walks across the river first, and He stands there  waiting for you to follow.   The youngest sheep on his shoulder represents others that have waded across.   And if you should be caught up in an unexpected current, He would be the first to lift you out with His staff.    In the Scripture a young father’s green pasture was destroyed when his son was sick beyond remedy.   This father took a leap across the river of faith when he approached Jesus about his son.   The beauty of this father’s faith is that he realized he most likely did not have enough faith to believe.  But he was willing to be drown in his last ditch effort.   But Christ stood across the river and said,  “Come on across.”  And he did;  read the account below. 

Teachable Moments

When I was a young father I used to take my children to the pool  to teach them how to swim.    I began by putting them first into the shallow end, so that they could touch the bottom of the pool.   As their confidence grew, I was able to teach them how to float, swim, and jump into the pool safely.   The test came, though,  when I asked them to swim across the deep end.   I offered them some great rewards if they succeeded.   A match box car, lunch at McDonald’s, and a movie were just a few of my enticements.   I further encouraged them by jumping in the pool, promising that I would save them in a second should they falter.   It took a while, but both Brodie and Shannon eventually leaped in and swam to the other side.   This is a great illustration of giving your children a picture of faith.   Like the instructing father, so much depends on God to make things work.   He is the one  who initiates the faith process beginning in the shallow end of experience at first.   Eventually, he will ask you to jump in on your own, but you are really not on your own.   He is there in the pool ready for rescue.    When you leap, that’s your part,  and then there is great reward ahead for you.   Perhaps as a parent you have already taught your children how to swim,  but for the sake of this teaching take them back to that pool and ask them how they would teach a younger brother or sister how to swim.   Then tell them how you did it, and draw the faith analogy  for them.     Just make sure you know how to swim first.

Word of God

Mark 9:20 And they brought the boy to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling about and foaming at the mouth.

Mark 9:21 And He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood.

Mark 9:22 "And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!"

Mark 9:23 And Jesus said to him, " 'If You can!' All things are possible to him who believes."

Mark 9:24 Immediately the boy's father cried out and began saying, "I do believe; help my unbelief."