Teach Them to Love: At Home, at Church, at School and Everywhere

By Wendy L Kimball

This book is designed to encourage parents and teachers who want to help children learn to love God and other people. Based on Scripture, this book explains how everyone can inspire children to love. Object lessons and everyday stories help illustrate how our lifestyle influences children. It is an easy read with helpful information on discipleship and family living.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 27, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463424992

Wendy L Kimball

I obtained a Bachelor Degree in Christian Education from Northwest Bible College in Minot, ND. Since then I have worked with children in a variety of settings. My experience includes school, childcare settings, church and home. Currently, I am priviledged to live in Medicine Hat, Alberta with my husband and three daughters.

Book preview

Teach Them To Love

At home, at church, at school

and everywhere

Wendy L Kimball

missing image file

AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

Unless otherwise indicated, Bible quotations are taken from New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson

© 2011 by Wendy L Kimball. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 06/21/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-2415-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-2414-5 (dj)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-2499-2 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011909915

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Chapter 1

PASSING ON THE HERITAGE

Chapter 2

LIVING IN GOD’S PRESENCE

Chapter 3

STAYING CONNECTED

Chapter 4

COMMITMENT TO TRAINING

Chapter 5

FOCUS OF TEACHING

Chapter 6

KNOWING GOD’S LOVE

Chapter 7

LOVING WITH YOUR ALL

Chapter 8

DAILY ROUTINES

Chapter 9

FAMILY TRADITIONS

Chapter 10

TEACHABLE MOMENTS

Chapter 11

SHARING THE EXPERIENCE

Chapter 12

GOD’S STORIES

Chapter 13

GOD’S WORD

Chapter 14

LIVING THE EXAMPLE

Chapter 15

BEING CHRIST-LIKE

Chapter 16

FINAL THOUGHTS

Dedications

Dallas Daniels—Even though your time on earth was short, your life was a story of God’s love. I was blessed to see the child who loved to sing O How I Love Jesus grow into a man who loved, even when life was tough.

Anne Johnson—You became my Sunday School teacher when I was only two. Even though time and miles came between us, each encounter with you provided a memory of love.

Jesus Christ—You have been my constant companion. You are my example and my source of love. Your love never fails.

Appreciations

Thank-you to Jerold and Evelyn, my parents who have faithfully shown love to others. You are examples of the truths of God’s Word. You have been my greatest teachers and encouragers.

Thank-you to Fran, my teacher and my friend, without your meticulous attention to detail, this book would contain many errors.

Thank-you to Glen, who is my pastor and encourager. I appreciate the time you took to read my manuscript and give constructive criticism.

Thank-you to Mat, Denalyn, Danielle and Marcy, for the support you have given. You believed I could write this book. Thank-you because you shared your computers and gave me time to write. I love each of you.

Thank-you to my Heavenly Father . . . You continue to instruct me and shape me into Your creation.

Chapter 1

PASSING ON THE HERITAGE

On the wall of the nursery hangs a beautiful painting. Jesus was sitting with children surrounding Him. A gentle smile filled His face. All the children were smiling. This shows the perfect picture of childhood and God’s love.

Let us take a closer look at these children. One child is a small infant, wet and crying. Another is a small girl in torn and dirty clothing. Off to the side a small boy sits humming quietly to himself. Two older boys wrestle, pushing and shoving trying to be first, while two brothers are obnoxious and loud. Not the same peaceful picture, but Jesus is still smiling.

You see Jesus knows who each of these children are and who they will become. The little baby will become a great leader. A crown will sit on the small girl’s head. The quiet boy will become a musician and king. Nations will be born from the wrestling brothers and the two brothers will become two of Jesus’ closest friends. All of them will find a place in God’s kingdom.

God’s kingdom is still made of children. All around us are children with runny noses, scraped knees and dirty faces. Jesus still smiles at them. It is up to us to show them His smile. Our task is to share His love and to help them find His purpose for their lives.

Each person who comes in contact with a child influences who that child will become. God has given us the awesome privilege and responsibility to pass on His love to the children in our world. Whether we’re a parent, grandparent, or older sibling, a Sunday School teacher, pastor or church member, a school teacher, daycare worker or principal or a neighbour, we each have an opportunity to be part of God’s team of love. We all work together creating lives into the building blocks of the kingdom of heaven.

The story of Joshua shows us the importance of handing God’s blessings on to our children. When Moses came to the end of His life, he passed on his leadership to Joshua. Joshua took courage from the Lord and led Israel through many struggles, but there was a sad note at the end of Joshua’s life. When his generation was gone, "another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel" (Judges 2:10). In one generation, they went from experiencing great miracles and following God to pursuing other gods and doing evil in the sight of God.

We see a different picture when we look at Timothy’s life in the days of the early church. Timothy was a young man who had faith in God. Lois his grandmother and Eunice his mother had both given Timothy a heritage of faith. A faith passed down to him for two generations.

The question for us is whose example will others link us with? Will our children and our neighbour’s children know God’s love? Will they have relationship that is personal and real? On the other hand, will they have no knowledge of God and spend their time seeking for God in the wrong places.

Our current generation gives a divided message to the young. Culture often has a message that leaves out God and says that your value comes by what you do and what you have. Yet there are still children that are receiving the message that God is their creator and has a purpose for their life.

Our responsibility is to make sure that every child has the opportunity to hear God’s message. They must hear first before they can make a personal choice of which message to accept for themselves.

God has a message that says I made you and you are special. I love you and I want you to be My child. God has given His guide book, the Bible. This shares His instructions for life, the plan for our lives and stories of how He has interacted with others in the past.

Too often children receive another message. They are left with the idea that they are an accident or a burden. They are told that God does not exist and that rules change. When they are told of Jesus, He is related to them as being no different than Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. His stories are only fairy tales or nursery rhymes.

DILIGENT IN TRAINING

There are three distinctives that we must keep as a priority whether it’s in the church, the home or the school. They are to:

Love—Children are a gift from God that we must love and cherish. Our love for them must reflect God’s love Himself.

Win—Each child must be brought to Christ. Only God can bring them to the completeness that He created them to be. Only through Christ can they learn to follow the plan God created for them. This is the plan to be His object of love.

Nurture—Children need to grow in their relationship with the Lord. They need to develop the disciplines of prayer and Bible reading, with an understanding of how to live these out through their lives in word and deed.

Instruction and training of children require diligence. Efforts to teach must be continual, intense and energetic. Habits need development through actions that are persistent, constant and regular. Character has a personal obligation to do what is right and good and moral goodness governs it. Extremely excessive care to detail must mark the attention paid to fine points. The task of teaching the next generation must painstakingly avoid making any mistakes or omissions. We cannot take our children lightly, for they are the greatest responsibility that we will ever have.

Teaching our children needs to be as aggressive as our actions would be if we were fighting cancer in our children. We would stay in contact with the physician and follow his instructions faithfully. We would research to find all the information that we could on how to deal with the situation. We would develop healthy habits. We would be quick to see surgery done when it was necessary. We would observe their health and keep a close eye on them. Fighting cancer would be the focus of our life. We would never give up. We would fight to the finish.

Therefore, in training our children we must be diligent in prayer and Bible study. Setting routines and guidelines for discipline is imperative. Time spent observing our children to see where they are at in their relationship with God is a necessity. We must never give up keeping our focus on Christ. The next generation must receive this message.

At Christmas, I asked my father to remind me of a game that I remembered my grandfather playing with us as a child. It took several minutes to refresh my memory of how the game went. Then we were able to teach the game to my daughters and husband. Drawing on my father’s memory kept this game from becoming extinct.

Together we shared this game with my children and they had opportunity to learn. Every family has things that they can pass on to their heirs, but none is as great as the love of our Heavenly Father.

SHARING THE LOVE

We not only have a message to teach our children, but a lifestyle to pass on. This lifestyle is a life dedicated to loving the Lord and obeying God’s commands. We often think teaching is an act of imparting knowledge while learning is the mental act of receiving that knowledge. Deuteronomy 6:5 does not even include the mind in its list of how we are to love the Lord.

However, Jesus reiterated in His teachings that we are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, strength and mind. Our children experience the love of God when it touches them emotionally, spiritually, physically and mentally. We are to train the whole being.

SHARING THE RELATIONSHIP

Growing up in Canada, I was very much aware of the Queen. Many events I attended included singing the song God Save the Queen. Each classroom in school had her picture displayed on the wall. The calendar had a holiday in May to honour the Queen. I often heard of her travels across Canada. Yet because I had never met her, I could not say I knew her. I never had a chance to develop a relationship with her.

God does not want us to relate to Him in this way. He wants us to know Him in a most intimate manner. Our relationship with God comes from spending time in His presence. God is everywhere and is aware of our presence, but we must take the initiative to welcome Him into our daily lives.

SHARING THE ROUTINES AND TRADITIONS

Each day filled with an awareness of God’s presence gives opportunity to develop a relationship with Him. Traditions become established through His influence and then practiced throughout the routines of the day. Information, beliefs, and customs handed down by word of mouth and by example from one generation to another can share both how God has worked in our lives and how we are to respond to God. Customs pass on a pattern of thought, action, or behaviour to draw our families closer to God. These should serve to guide, control, or regulate proper and acceptable behaviour, but they become meaningless and monotonous without the bond of friendship with Jesus.

We live in a day of schedules and lists that can be tools to use in developing habits. Everyday encounters and routines create a schedule that remembers the things we deem as most important. Faithful repetition makes habits become involuntary. They become well established and familiar. Actions that begin as scheduled activities grow to be permanent parts of who we are.

SHARING THE MOMENTS

Look for teachable moments to talk with children about God. This may be at home or on the go. Discussions may occur in the kitchen, in the bedroom or in the yard. Share stories in the car, walking down the street or at the mall. Discourse may happen in the classroom, on the playground or in the hallway. Acknowledge experience and share God’s presence, wherever we go. The activities that we put into our day should be a reflection of God’s love. When we keep our own focus on Christ, the example that, we live will automatically show it to others.

Each day should be sandwiched with reminders of God’s love. Bedtime should be a time to teach His love. The morning should incorporate activities that teach His love. All the moments in between should teach God’s love. If we live in God’s love, we cannot help but share it throughout the day.

SHARING THE MEMORIES