Preparing Your Kids for the Real World (Part 10) – Spiritual Development (Part F)

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1.      Teach them to prefer the people of God.

1. Teach them that God’s people are the apple of His eye (Deu 32:10; Zec 2:8).
2. Teach them that they should have affection for church members (Rom 12:10; Eph 4:32).
3. Teach them that they should prefer their brethren in the church over themselves (Rom 12:10; Php 2:3).
4. Teach them that they should love the brethren (Joh 13:34-35; 1Pe 3:8).
5. Teach them that they should pray for their brethren and be concerned about them (1Th 5:25).
6. Teach them that brethren should want to spend time together (Psa 119:63; Mal 3:16).
7. Teach them that brethren should desire to see each other (1Th 3:6; 2Ti 1:4; Rom 1:11-12).
8. Teach them these things by doing them yourselves.
9. Have church people over to your home for dinner.
10. Have lunch or coffee with them after church.

iii.    Don’t make plans for immediately after church so that you can stick around for a while and fellowship with the brethren.

1. Encourage your kids to talk to other kids and adults before and after church — get them out of their comfort zone.
2. Don’t let other activities take precedent over church activities.
3. Have your kids get involved in making things for a potluck or a church get-together.

vii.  Have them get a church member’s bed ready who is coming to stay.

viii.Pray for church members at meals, talk up visits from other church members.

1. Help church members move, etc.

2.      Teach them to hate evil.

1. You must teach your children to refuse the evil and choose the good (Deu 1:39; Isa 7:16).
2. Teach them that God hates evil (Heb 1:9; Jer 44:3-4; Pro 8:13).
3. Teach them that God commands them to hate evil (Amos 5:15; Rom 12:9).
4. Teach them that in order to fear God and love Him they must hate evil (Pro 8:13; Psa 97:10).
5. Teach them most of all to hate their own sin (Rom 7:15).

3.      Teach them to be content.

1. By nature, children are not content with what they have (Pro 27:20; Ecc 1:8).
2. Teach them to be content with what they have (Heb 13:5).
3. Help them learn contentment by not giving them everything they want.
4. Teach them to learn to be content in whatever state they are in (Php 4:11).
5. Teach them that they already have all that they need to be content because they have food and clothing (1Ti 6:8).
6. Teach them that they will lead rich lives if they have godliness with contentment (1Ti 6:6).

7. Never use the Bible as punishment.

8. It is unwise to make children write out Bible verses numerous times (or other similar exercises) for punishment.
9. This will make the child associate the Bible with negative experiences and could cause them to resent it.
10. It is wise to show a child who has disobeyed you, or otherwise sinned, the Bible verses that forbid that behavior.
11. This will let them know that God condemns their bad behavior and not just their parents.