Teaching your Child about Christ Feels like Rocket Science!

Verse of the Week:

Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. Teach them to your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night. Inscribe them on the doorposts and gates of your cities so that you’ll live a long time, and your children with you, on the soil that God promised to give your ancestors for as long as there is a sky over the Earth. Deuteronomy 11:18-21

Teaching your Child about Christ Feels Like Rocket Science!!!

Overwhelmed, scared, burdened, and unsure were the feelings I felt when I thought of having to teach my children about Jesus.  The pressure to make sure my children received Christ was overwhelming. What if I messed up? What if Brayden and Carson didn't ever know Jesus?  Salvation is the most important choice they would ever make.  How could I make sure that happened?  How do I even start with teaching them about Christ?  There is so much for them to learn, and I don't even know how to go about it. These are some of the thoughts that have entered my mind when I think about Brayden and Carson's spiritual upbringing. I think perhaps that every parent who loves the Lord feels this way at some point.  There is no greater desire in me than for my children to love Jesus.  

However, I realized three things: 

First, I am not God and I can't make my children love Jesus. 
I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. (Isaiah 45:5)

Second, I have to just trust in the Lord and place both boys in His hands.  
Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. (John 14:1)

Third, when I do talk about Jesus with Brayden and Carson, I need to remember that God will help me. 
For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. (Isaiah 41:13)

When I realized those things, I felt a weight begin to lift from my shoulders. I realized that I could make it fun and enjoy sharing my passion for Jesus with my boys.  Just like a dad may have a love for football and wants to teach his son about football or a Mom has a passion for arts and crafts and wants to teach her girls arts and crafts, the same concept applies when sharing Christ.  Christ is my passion, and therefore, my goal is to share that passion with Brayden and Carson.  I know I am not God and that I can't force my boys to love Christ, but I can share with them my love for Christ and show them by example Christ's love for them.  Just like a dad hopes his son will love football and a mom hopes her girls will love art, I hope that Brayden and Carson will come to love Jesus the same way I do.

"So how in the world do I start?" I asked myself.  That was the challenge for me: how to start sharing. I think many parents like me struggle with how to talk to their kids about Jesus.  So I just wanted to share some tips and ideas from my current journey to any parents that are struggling the same way I was.

1.  Talk about Jesus in the middle of your daily activities.
It was hard at first for me to do this because I thought I would feel like an idiot when I tried to talk to Brayden about Jesus, but my first attempt came about when Brayden was excitedly looking at the moon one morning.  I said, "You know who made the moon Brayden?  God did.  Just like Mama makes cookies and muffins, God made the moon."  Brayden looked at me excitedly and pointed up to the moon again.  Seeing him excited, helped me get out of my shell and start talking to him more about God on a daily basis.  I would constantly ask Brayden what God made, and he would point to the moon.  After that I would share with him other things God made like the trees, grass, turtles, etc.  

Another example of sharing Jesus with Brayden during our daily activities happened when we were watching "Spookly the Square Pumpkin" on TV. The other pumpkins were making fun of Spookly because he was square and not round.  I took the time to explain to Brayden that Jesus would want us to treat others nice and that those pumpkins were not being nice.  Brayden looked at me with a quizzical look in his eyes as if he was in deep thought over what I said.  

However,it is important to note that not every time I talk to Brayden about God does he act excited about it. Sometimes it seems like he is completely ignoring me; however, I keep trying because I believe that he is listening more than I realize.  So parents, take heart if your kid doesn't seem interested, keep trying anyway. :)  

2.  Read Books
Reading about Jesus in story books is a great way to teach any child about Christ.  One of my personal favorites that I read to Brayden is called "God Loves You."  It talks about four major concepts: God made you, God loves you, God takes care of you, God sent his son Jesus to save you from your sins.  I though at first that these concepts would be too hard for Brayden to understand at 2 years old, but to my surprise, it is one of his favorite books.  We have also read the Christmas story over and over despite the fact that it isn't Christmas, but he is still hearing about Jesus. Find books that your child loves and read those books over and over. Now that Brayden is getting older, I plan to start reading from a Children's Bible to him.  He is getting it for Christmas so shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! :)

Brayden's Christmas present and favorite story book.

3.  Do Art projects

Brayden and I recently did a very fun art project together and made Brayden a Jesus Book.

Hard at work making his book!

Each day we would work on one page for the book.  I allowed Brayden to color, glue, and put stickers in his book.  While we created each page, I explained to him the concept we were learning on that page.  The explanation probably only took 30 seconds to a minute to share, but for a 2 year old, that is enough.  I then laminated and hole punched each page and then tied the book together. After we completed the book, we now go back and read it constantly, and Brayden loves reading something he made.

Pages in Jesus Book

Allow your child to make the pages himself. It doesn't have to look perfect!

4. Pray Pray Pray!
God says to pray without ceasing for a reason.  We need God's guidance as parents on a daily basis.  Ask God to reveal to you moments you can share Him with your child. Pray for your child to know Jesus.  Cover your child with blankets of prayer.

5.  Don't expect every attempt to share Jesus go go perfect.
To be honest, there were times when things were a disaster when I tried to teach Brayden about Jesus. For instance, when Brayden and I made the Jesus book, there were a couple of times when he was misbehaving and received timeout for dropping crayons on the floor and throwing a tantrum.  There have been times when Brayden hasn't wanted to read his Jesus book, or listen to me talk about Jesus, but that is ok.  Just keep trying and know who holds your child in the palm of His hand.

Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. Teach them to your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night. Inscribe them on the doorposts and gates of your cities so that you’ll live a long time, and your children with you, on the soil that God promised to give your ancestors for as long as there is a sky over the Earth. (Deuteronomy 11:18-21)