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What is faith:  believing in something that you don’t see.  We have faith for something as simple as sitting on a chair, we sit down, believing that the chair will hold us up!

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Heb. 11:1

This is the great chapter of faith in the Bible, speaking of people who stood for what they believed, not knowing if they would ever see those promises made to them, in their lifetime.

An example of great faith is Noah; he was warned of things not yet seen, the flood, and moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household.  He prepared it for many more, but they refused to get into the ark and be saved.  He is a man of faith.

Heb. 11: 6 tells us, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

We need to diligently seek him, the Creator of the universe, who wants a relationship with us!  It’s not impossible, but it’s for those who care enough and are diligent and persistent enough to seek him.

Now that we understand a bit more about faith, what are some keys to passing on faith to our children, or raising children that have faith?

F – Fun and Friendship

I am convinced that we are way too serious in this life!  We need to have fun and friendship in our families and with our children, so that they can see that our faith in God is real.  It’s not a duty, or a chore to serve God, but a privilege.  We have a favourite saying in our house, after hearing our kids ask, “Do we havveee to go to church?” Our answer would be, “ NO, you get to go to church!!”  “Do we haveee to clean our room?”  “NO, you get to clean your room because you’re fortunate enough to have a room!!”  
But everything we do as families has to be seasoned, with fun, laughter and joy in the lives God has given us to live.  Be friends with your kids, no matter what the circumstances, without your love and support, life is going to very harsh and meaningless for them.  

A – Accumulate….what? 

Material possessions, money or memories?  We live in a world that values only what they can see and hold and having more of those things, makes you more valuable….wrong!!  What are you spending your life on?  Is it only to buy the next new car, the bigger house, the designer furniture, more renovations, and more money to do it all, or do you see value in building memories, fun times, and a wealth of faith into your children’s lives? Schooling can only do so much, what our children accumulate into their lives goes to school with them and into all of their life.  What do we show them is important to us?  Do we have time to pray together, read the Bible together, laugh together, give to others together?  The world tells us just to look after ourselves; that is an empty, shallow way to live your life!  One of the best things we ever did was live in Tanzania with our children.  Despite people warning us of the dangers of ‘Africa’, they learned what real life is all about, saw poverty, experienced joys with friends from another culture and were even sometimes in dangerous situations where they saw God answer prayer that actually spared us our lives.  We could have deprived them of those experiences by playing it safe and doing the ‘sensible’ thing and never leaving Canada.  What a loss in their lives that would have been!

I – Integrity

Our children learn what they see us live in front of them.  Saying one thing and living another, doesn’t work with kids, they can see right through us.  I remember Leonard telling the story of how his youngest sister decided that the hotel they were staying in one time was happy to give out towels and glasses from the room to their patrons.  So she packed them into the suitcases unknown to Leonard’s mother.  Needless to say his mother was mortified when she discovered all the towels and glasses in their luggage on opening up the suitcases at home!  But Florence wouldn’t let it ‘slide’, she wrapped everything up and mailed everything back to the hotel.  All her children learned a lesson in integrity and honesty through that experience. The principle of tithing is the same, our children see us do it and they want to do it.  What about the principle of generosity, are we generous, with our time, home, hospitality??  We can fool everyone else, but we can’t fool our kids.

T – To build faith into the next generation takes a very important ingredient, TIME! 

We need to spend time with our children, to be able to pass on the things we value to them.  In our instant world, of everything done quickly to suit us, we have lost the value of spending time together.  As I get older I value time much more. Spend time with your kids; not only teaching or telling them something, but just BEING together.  We are human beings, not human doings!!  Just spend time with your kids and you will reap the reward.  

H – Healthy Values 

Our children will value what we value. We have a right to guide and direct what goes into our children’s minds and hearts; not only a right, but a God-given responsibility.  Kids don’t just grow up, they need to be raised up.  Just like a plant, watered, nurtured, tended well, our children need the same kind of care.  What do I value?  I need to make sure my children know what that is and pass that on to them.  We value God and we value people in our home. How we allow our children to talk to us and to each other, shows them if we value or don’t value people outside of our home as well.  When these values aren’t lived out, there needs to be correction and discipline.  Discipline is different for every child, but necessary for every child, to grow into the beautiful person God has intended for them to be.

We can pass on our faith to our children, we have the God-given privilege of doing that. Let’s do it with fun and friendship, teaching our children integrity, taking time to nurture them and instill in them healthy values that will carry them through life.

We don’t live our lives just for now, but we pass on who we are to the next and actually future generations.  Let’s not take our purpose in life lightly.

To lose either money, health, trust or loved ones is a great loss, but the greatest tragedy is to lose faith.  Don’t give up!!  Ask God for his grace so that you CAN pass on your faith to the next generation that lives right in your home.

Lorie Rutten