Caught and Taught
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6:7
A woman stood up at a recent event I attended and said, “I always understood growing up in a Christian home that if I did not smoke, drink, or have sex before I was married that I was not sinning. Then, as an adult I started to read the bible and realized, ‘this is sin and this is sin’.” She was explaining how hard it was to transition to acknowledging a life that was full of sin she had never known she was committing.
Children largely learn their faith at home. An hour on a Sunday morning is rarely enough instruction to change a life. I am a firm believer in the old adage, “There’s more caught than taught.” Apparently, this woman had neither instruction nor example to learn from in her home. Just a short list of rules to live by.
Family devotions take discipline. Though no one does it perfectly, I have talked to many who are trying to do it right. They might range from a daily time of family Bible reading to a structured and thought out lesson by Mom or Dad. (Scripturally, it is Dad’s responsibility. Psalm 78:5, Deuteronomy 6:7) Some of you might be thinking it is too early to start for your young ones and others may be thinking you have missed your opportunity.
It’s never too early: When I was teaching Bible Study Fellowship the day class had a teaching program for 2 – 6 year olds. Every teaching time started with the teacher holding up the Bible and saying “This is the Holy Bible and it is true.”
A young Mom was bringing her two-year-old son and he was not adjusting well in the first three weeks. She began to consider keeping him with her through the adult class and not subject him or the teacher to his being in the classroom.
She and her husband were discussing this at dinner one night with the child sitting next to them in his highchair. The husband asked his wife what the big deal was. He said, “He’s two. It’s not like he’s going to learn anything in a Bible teaching time.” At that remark the little boy looked at his Dad and said “The Bible is God’s Word and it is true.” It wasn’t too early.
They decided to leave the child in the class. What a fabulous truth to learn at two-years-old!
A teenager who does not know of God’s love, grace, mercy, and justice, needs to be taught. He/she is the one who will benefit from knowing. It’s never too late to start learning these truths about God. He didn’t start showing me until I was over thirty!
The lady described earlier had learned truths from her parents, mostly in her teenage years, that kept her out of trouble. The little boy who starts to learn that God’s Word is true is learning truths that will keep him out of hell.
How hard is it to discipline ourselves to teach these truths to small children? How vital is it that they will not grow up not knowing what God’s Word says? It isn’t just the commands, but the love and grace behind his commands that children need to learn. We, like that woman, can learn a long list of God’s commands. But the Word is not just God’s commands; it includes understanding that in His goodness, He has given us these commands for our own good.
Sadly, today, the examples set outside the home, even by some Christian organizations, are not ones we want our children to follow. There is such a compromising of the Word for God in our culture that we must teach them to know it so they can see when it’s being perverted — and run.
Are your children and grandchildren seeing an example of the grace and love of God in your home? Is there a teaching time when they see and hear that God’s Word is important, living and active, not old and outdated?
What’s being taught and what’s being caught?