Thursday, 20 March 2008
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Our Children Watch Us... even when we worship
A few Sundays ago, during the worship service, during one of the songs that my 4-year old son Caleb was familiar with (it was a previous “song of the month”), I saw something that made me smile. I saw him sing… with his eyes closed. His head even swayed a little from side to side. I smiled, because I knew what he was doing. He was imitating his daddy; that’s how I sing my songs of praise to God (when I know the lyrics by heart).
I didn’t tell him to do that; he just did it on his own. He learned by observing his daddy. That’s how I sing at home during our family worship, and that’s how I sing at church in corporate worship. Like it or not, my son imitates me… as he should. And that is a very weighty responsibility.
Dear parents, how do you worship God? What’s your attitude in and during worship? What’s your posture? By how you worship, do your children sense that you value and cherish worship, or do they sense that it is something you do out of mere duty? If you’re mentally “checked out” during worship and preoccupied with other things, if you can’t wait to be done with worship to get to more important things, if you show up for worship in a hurry and with no preparation, if worship is something you “endure” rather than “enjoy”… well, like it or not, you will see that attitude reflected in your children and in their worship of God.
It’s not enough to just take them to church, or even to have them sit quietly with you in worship. They need to see you worship; they need to see that you value and treasure Christ in your worship. That’s how they are going to learn to worship. When it comes to worshipping God, your personal example will go much further and have more impact than your instruction and exhortation ever will.
Be very careful about what you model before your kids. They will imitate you; they will love what you love, and they will care about what you care about. They are watching you- not only at home, but also at church. Our children watch us... even as we worship. May God, by His powerful Spirit, make us the kind of worshippers that we earnestly and prayerfully want our children to be.
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Comments (3)
That's awesome...can't wait to see that in my kids.
thanks for the challenge pastor owen. noah actually likes to pray with his hands raised up b/c he sees pastor ben doing that during benediction. haha. we had to tell him, "don't do that unless you want lightening to strike you." jk. family worship is such a challenge but hopefully our kids will learn the true meaning of worship each week. hope everyone is well within your family.
my little nephew is already leading worship and giving benedictions too, though he doesn't read or speak coherently, yet... "Do You hear what these children are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, 'OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF'?"