Cultivating A Christian Worldview- Our Nine-Year-Old Girl

As parents, we realize that it becomes our responsibility to shape her into godliness. We have to care about the balance of content she intakes (secular vs Christian). We have to both model and teach worship, prayer, Bible reading, and “Christian speak” at home. Yes, I said it “Christian speak.” She ought to know who she is, who we are, and most importantly who our God is. The Israelites were told without reservation:

Teach them (God’s Word)  to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise (Deuteronomy 11:19)

We realize we cannot be slack about it. We must be deliberate. Yet, it must be done in a way that respects her level of learning, and which encourages a love for the things of God.  We have had to tie her reading of the Bible to both positive and negative reinforcement. Keep in mind, we also can’t afford to frustrate her. Some people end up with an adverse reaction to “God things and God speak” especially since the flesh is innately resistant to God (John 7:7). We’ve also had to purchase a girl-friendly Bible. Oh, you would be amazed at the way she cuddles up to that book (especially when she knows she’ll get 4 hours of Netflix kids on the backside of that). We have found that the stories must be relevant, and applicable to the moment. For example, we had a moment yesterday when she acted up because she did not want to do any chores. I played a bit of reverse psychology on her and it worked in my favor. She came to me a little later asking “Can we talk?”  I was impressed. She said she was sorry. Ok, that’s a first. So I took her to the park and talked for a bit. We tied it to respect for adults and specifically “a father figure” (which she’s never had). It ended with a bit of the Prodigal’s son story (Luke 15:11-32). She’s learning.  Keep in mind, it’s been a process to get her to love reading. She’d never been to the library before. We took her to the largest library in Florida (or so they say). So that was a joy. She was allowed to have any ten books she wanted(within reason) for the first borrow. Did that twice. The second time she got a bit more freedom in her choice of books. Now she had a balance for summer – trips around town, lots of beach, tablet, bike riding, climbing trees, playing hopscotch, park, more beach, books, Bible. Now there’s a reading routine. We’re learning, taking it one day at a time.

The process of transformation (sinner to saint) is much like parenting.

Oh, if you are looking for a great Bible for your girl I recommend the Girls Life Application Study Bible:

Kevin Hall (Sunday, August 26, 2018).