Teaching our children by example

   Last Sunday we had the privilege of administering baptism to one of our covenant children.  As the parents took their vows, we were all reminded again that we are called upon by our covenant Father “to set an example of piety and godliness before” our children.

   The hymn we sang at the close of the service, “Shine Thou Upon Us, Lord” (THR.411), has much to say about how we are to discharge that responsibility to be examples to our children.  We cannot pass on to them what we do not experience ourselves.

   Since we sometimes don’t pay as close attention to what we sing as we should (especially the last hymn of the service when our minds may already be out the door!), I thought I’d reprise that hymn for you here:

Shine thou upon us, Lord,

True Light of men, today,

And through the written Word

Thy very self display,

That so from hearts which burn

With gazing on thy face

Thy little ones may learn

The wonders of thy grace.

   God is the “True Light of men,” and he reveals himself through the Holy Scriptures.  As we read and meditate upon the written Word, we gaze upon God’s face and our hearts burn with holy fire.  It is not enough for us to teach our children God’s Word.  They must see us undergoing a personal “transfiguration” under the powerful influence of the Word — only then will they learn the wonders of God’s grace.

Breathe thou upon us, Lord,

Thy Spirit's living flame,

That so with one accord

Our lips may tell thy name.

Give thou the hearing ear,

Fix thou the wandering thought,

That those we teach may hear

The great things thou hast wrought.

   Only as the Spirit himself breathes upon us “living flame” — thereby giving us ears eager to receive, and stay focused on, his message in Scripture — will we have any hope of communicating that message effectively to our children.

Speak thou for us, O Lord,

In all we say of thee;

According to thy Word

Let all our teaching be,

That so thy lambs may know

Their own true Shepherd's voice,

Where'er he leads them go,

And in his love rejoice.

   As parents we want to be mediators of the teaching voice of God himself.  After all, what wisdom can we impart to our children that has its sole source in ourselves?  We can only be such mediators as we let Scripture shape and fill all our instruction.  As we do, the lambs will hear their true Shepherd’s voice, and they will follow him in the paths of love and joy.

Live thou within us, Lord;

Thy mind and will be ours;

Be thou belov'd, adored,

And served with all our powers,

That so our lives may teach

Thy children what thou art,

And plead, by more than speech,

For thee with ev'ry heart.

   Only as God lives within us — possessing our mind and will, our whole being — and our children see it so — only as they see us sold-out wholeheartedly to the service of God as “living sacrifices” (Rom. 12:1) — will they learn — from our lives even more compellingly than from our words — that they too may and must devote themselves from the heart to love and serve the covenant Lord, Jesus.