What is the legacy of faith that you wish to impart to your children?  Did you realize that the handing down of your faith to your children is a gift?  As with any gift, there is a level of effort involved in the act of giving.  The effort you extend in bequeathing this gift can be directly relational to how much of it your child truly cherishes and internalizes it.

The last few weeks I’ve been reading through 1 and 2 Chronicles in the Old Testament of the Bible.  Each new king of Judah is introduced with either “He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight” or “He did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight.”  Before I come upon a new king’s name, I automatically tense:  Will this be a good king or a bad king?

What pierces my soul over and over again is how some of the sons of the kings that follow God wholeheartedly are the ones that do the most evil in the LORD’s sight.  I think to myself, “How can this be?”  What does it take to impart our faith into the hearts of our children?

Leaving a Rich Faith Legacy

What are some ways that we can impart our own faith, morals, and values to our children?  With all the media and other outside influences that vie to sway our children toward this way or that, how can we give them a firm foundation on which to base their own decisions?

• Be an example. Most of us have heard the popular saying that “Actions speak louder than words.”  This is true in faith matters as well.  If you are telling your children that they don’t have to worry about doing well on a test after they have studied, and yet they constantly see you stressing out about paying the bills after you get home from work, they get the sense that it must be okay to worry about some things and not others.  None of us will ever be perfect embodiments of practicing what we preach, but we can be mindful of what we say and do around our children.
• Don’t be the only example. Faith seems to grow richer when we see how a variety of people put it to use in their lives.  We hear a multitude of personal and biblical stories that give us pieces of what the full picture of faith.  Attending church, Sunday school classes, or even home-based meetings with the intention of faith-building give your children (and you) more exposure to the components that make faith real, alive, and purposeful.
• Allow for questions and concede you don’t know all the answers. There are many things in the Bible that I do not understand, but if I decide not to read it to my children because I’m afraid I won’t be able to answer their questions, I rob them of an incredible resource that is the basis of our faith.  I want to empower them to find answers in the scripture and ask God to help them understand how to interpret them in their personal lives.
• Share your stories. Children always love a good story.  When they are struggling with an issue that you have dealt with in the past, share how you handled it.  Even if you didn’t handle it well in the past, share how those consequences affected you.  Share what you would have done if you could have done it over.

There are a myriad of ways to leave a rich faith legacy.  What have you implemented in your family?

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