made them come alive for our children. One day, we packed our
things and set out on foot, talking about Abraham who left Ur not
knowing where he would go, only knowing God would go with him.
We tried to imagine walking away from our home knowing we would
never come back again. We tried to imagine not knowing where we
would go.
(^) Why do all this? For this simple reason: to make the Bible truth
live for our children. Always remember that the goal of family
worship is knowing God. When you lose sight of that goal, family
worship becomes an empty ritual. You need only read Isaiah 1 to see
how God feels about empty ritual.
Well Behaved Children
(^) What about the earlier example of raising well behaved children?
You cannot use Miss Manners’ approach because it is simply an
elaborate means of pleasant social manipulation. In a biblical vision,
manners are an expression and application of the duty of loving my
neighbor as myself. It is a matter of teaching children to imitate the
Lord Jesus’ self-giving as set forth in Philippians 2.