Families: Dine Together on God’s Word

You know you should do it. You have read the research, heard the statistics and maybe even felt the pangs of guilt. Yet modern life seems to make it increasingly difficult to gather your family to sit down together for meals.

Research has proven that children who routinely share meals with their parents have greater self-confidence and are less likely to fall into depression, substance abuse or relationship problems. Such children also develop a more extensive vocabulary and score higher average school grades.

Moms and Dads across the globe know that shared mealtimes are crucial, yet they still find it hard to make the time to do so. Amazing, right? We all must eat to survive, but doing it together can be difficult. And these are merely physical meals. What can fall by the wayside even more are spiritual meals.

Consider Christ’s words: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).

More important than breakfast, lunch and dinner is Bible study—“dining” on God’s Word.

Similar to how the human body digests and breaks down food—from bite-size down to microscopic pieces easily absorbed into your bloodstream—we should daily internalize the Bible. By reading slowly and meditating during Bible study, Christians take in “every word” given to them by God as if they were taking one bite at a time to taste, chew and swallow.

Parents, while your own personal study is crucial, you have the added responsibility of teaching God’s Way to your children.

A clear command in Deuteronomy shows the scope of this duty: “Therefore shall you lay up these My words in your heart and in your soul…And you shall teach them [to] your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (11:18-19).

We are to instruct our sons and daughters while sitting and standing, inside and outside—morning, noon and night.

This means all the time! Doing so will infuse a love for the Bible in our children. It will also help you as parents to stay focused on the Kingdom of God.

Much of this teaching will be impromptu. Yet the backbone of the biblical instruction we give our children should be more formal and regimented. An ideal period for family Bible study is as dinner winds down.

This relaxed social setting provides a perfect educational environment. Parents can spontaneously engage with each other and their children. Children, in turn, are more receptive to parents during a shared meal.

Threefold Cord

Daily pressures and demands tend to slowly weaken and dismantle families. Parents’ work schedules, children’s homework and other school activities leave little room for family time.

Other pressures can come from every direction in society: divorce, depression, substance abuse, greed, wrong uses of social media, corrupt entertainment, gambling, financial issues, bullying, peer pressure and so on.

Families do not inherently know how to live. Notice: “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23). God’s Word reveals a way of life that does not come naturally to us. The verse easily could read: “O Lord, I know that the way of a family is not in itself: it is not in a family that walks to direct its steps.”

It takes strong bonds to resist the pressures of society and maintain your family unit!

Ecclesiastes 4 states, “Two are better than one” (vs. 9), and “a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (vs. 12). The first part refers to the bond between a husband and wife, consisting of two strands of one cord. Once children are added, the strands increase from two to three, or later, even more. The more strands a cord or rope has, the more difficult it is to rip apart.

Just as sharing physical meals strengthens bonds, regular formal and informal family Bible studies builds families up.

Core Classroom

Discussions around the dinner table can provide topics for Bible study afterward. Personal challenges, issues with peers, schoolwork, setting goals, framing world events and news trends and other topics can be starting points to showing God’s mind on a subject.

Consider this mealtime scenario: As the father passes around the salad, his son mentions the disrespect he notices toward teachers at school. After dinner, while the family is still together, this can lead directly into a Bible study. This could begin with the Fifth Commandment: “Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you” (Ex. 20:12).

Our children are privileged to know the truth about how important parents are and how much they are to be respected. Yet this can be expanded to all authority figures, including teachers. You may even quote I Peter 2:17 to reinforce the point: “Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.”

During dessert, the mother may discuss an interaction she had in a grocery store that led to a moment of irritation. The father may mention a similar situation at work and how Christians should “esteem other better than themselves” (Phil. 2:3).

This exchange helps the mother and shows the children godly interaction between parents.

Fathers, you should direct and lead these study sessions. Ask questions. Test your children’s knowledge of the Bible. Show them that God’s Word is a living book by connecting its contents to daily events. Mothers can bring additional angles to add perspective to the discussion.

Never show frustration if your children do not give the correct answer on the spot. Make studying the Bible together exciting and fun.

Teach Always

Digging into God’s Word after a meal is only a starting point for parents to teach throughout the day. Recall the all-encompassing scope of the command to teach our children in Deuteronomy 11.

Think through your daily routine and all the ways you can teach. For instance, if you drive your child to school, you may hear a news report on the radio about a neighborhood crime. Discuss with your child the significance of these reports and help bring the proper perspective on the world around them.

Read all of Deuteronomy 11:18. It explains why we should always diligently teach our children: “Therefore shall you lay up these My words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.”

Our actions are symbolized by the work of our hands or “a sign upon your hand.” Our thoughts are represented by “frontlets between your eyes.” The part of the brain where we make decisions, the frontal lobe, is situated between our eyes. God wants our children, potential God beings, to grow up with parents who teach them to think and make decisions according to His Word.

Every time we teach our children, we should have this goal: to “lay up,” meaning to set in place or plant, God’s words in their hearts and minds.

Rich Diet

Timothy, an evangelist in the first century, is an example of a young man who grew up in God’s Way. His parents, who would have known passages such as Deuteronomy 11:18-19, diligently taught him from a young age.

Notice what the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy: “From a child you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (II Tim. 3:15). Actively practicing God’s Word from early in life produces wisdom.

A natural question is, “What do I teach my children?” One place to start is the beginning: The Genesis recreation account. Explain to your children what was created on each day of the week leading up to the creation of man and the institution of the weekly Sabbath.

Before you know it, they will be able to recite it from memory: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Children think concretely, and they can easily relate to physical things such as nature. Expose them to it. Go out on a clear night and show them the stars. While hiking or camping, show them the beauty, complexity and diversity of God’s handiwork. Always connect Creation to the Creator. Bring the Bible to life!

This will reinforce that God’s “word is true from the beginning” (Psa. 119:160) and will help them along the path to “prove all things” (I Thes. 5:21), including God’s existence.

From an early age, teach your sons and daughters why they were born and what great future potential they have—to one day be part of the God Family.

Be age-specific and incorporate the various publications the Church offers to aid you. Our Children’s Bible Lessons, Story of the Bible and Ambassador Youth magazine offer many topics to study.

Make the stories of Bible characters such as Abraham, Isaac, David, Joseph, Ruth, Deborah and Samson live. Teach your children about the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath, Holy Days and tithing. Show them how to pray and study the Bible themselves by doing it with them.

Mr. Pack’s book Train Your Children God’s Way is another effective tool you can use. It provides a powerful summary of why we should press forward with regular family Bible study: “The measure of their [your children’s] value and success is solely tied to regular contact with God.” Let this phrase be a source of inspiration for all that you do.

Future Family

The God Family now consists of the Father and Christ, who have lived in perfect agreement and unity before time existed. While the Bible does not explicitly state the reason God decided to reproduce Himself and add members to His Family, we do know that God and Christ have perfect love—outgoing concern—for each other and everyone. In fact, God is love (I John 4:8).

God’s name appears 32 times in the first chapter of Genesis alone. He was integrally involved in every facet of Creation, including the formation of man. The word used for God here is the Hebrew word Elohim. It is a uniplural word and should be viewed similarly to other words used to describe people or things that are closely related, such as a team, group, church or family.

Notice Genesis 1:26-28: “And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness…So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth…”

The Father wants man, who was made to physically look like Him, to multiply. In short, He wants people to have families.

Teaching is part of parents’ stewardship to prepare children for their future roles as adults and parents. Children in God’s Church are sanctified, meaning set apart (I Cor. 7:14). For them to be used by God later, parents must teach them God’s Word, doctrines and laws now.

Family Bible study provides a foundation for learning true Christianity, understanding the world around us and strengthening your family unit. It will directly contribute to your children one day being born into God’s Family.