Last week we looked at the need to teach our children our history. We can probably agree that we should teach our children our history, but how? What can we do to pass on the history to the next generation?
- Know the history. You can’t teach what you don’t know. History helps to instill hope in the current generation of youth. It also helps them see the hand of God working in the lives of His creation. Our history is directly linked to what God is doing in the world. We have to learn it for ourselves. We cannot just rely on sound bites, vague memories of our childhood Sunday school classes, or what we learned in our grade school history classes. Our history is worth knowing and sharing.
- Take the time to answer your children’s questions. In Deuteronomy 6:20-22, we see that there is an expectation that parents respond to their children’s questions. Children often turn to their parents for answers. When parents appear too busy, or their answers are unsatisfactory, children seek other sources to find answers. Often these sources provide inaccurate and unbiblical views regarding life and history.
- Use object lessons to teach God’s truths. In Joshua 4:4-7 the people of God were to use stones to teach the story of God’s deliverance. These stones were a visual reminder of the deliverance of God. There are object lessons all round us that speak to the power of God. The brightness of Venus on a moonless night is a great segue into an object lesson on God as Creator. A bird in a treat is a reminder that God provides.
- Expose your children to history. Take a trip to a museum or historic site. Help them see how God has been at work throughout the ages. Share some of the history that you know. Write it down so that what you know lives beyond your time on earth. Attend events where history makers are featured. Encourage your children to do their school papers on lesser known historical figures. History is much more than George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Use current events as a bridge to the past.
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