Dinner has concluded. The children gather around on the living room floor and I go to get the Bible Story book from the bookshelf. After they recite their Bible verse and Catechism question for that week, I review the story from the day before to get everyone up to speed and then read through the next part of the Children’s Bible. Becca helps them as they go through the questions that go along with the story and after we have talked about the story and taken their prayer requests, everyone bows their little heads, closes their little eyes and I pray for my family before everyone scuttles off for bed.
This experience I’ve just described is a portrait of family devotions that has never happened in our household.
Not once.
Sometimes the children sit on the living room floor. Sometimes we meet in their bedroom, so that they can be at least somewhat contained in their beds while I read the Bible story for the evening. The book we use typically depends on which book we can find that night and how much of a story we can all tolerate, depending on how the day has gone. There are seasons where we have them recite a Bible verse of the week…or the two-to-three week stretch that it takes them to memorize any particular 7-word Bible verse. Sometimes we talk about prayer requests, but other times I halfway shout out over the chaos a desperate plea for God to help the children to actually go to sleep when they are supposed to.
One child might lose their mind and cry through the whole experience. Another might run out of the room for no apparent reason and put a pause on the whole thing until we can shepherd them back in. Toys, pets, flashing lights, any sounds at all, can all be the immediate undoing of our little crowd of three. Our usually energetic children do not simply put their personalities on pause for family devotions. They have good days and bad days, just like everyone, even mommy and daddy. The same goes for their evenings, and the same goes for our attempts at family devotions.
As we contemplate what it means to love one another in our families, with church meetings on temporary hiatus, I want to suggest the idea of family devotions to you if you have no experience with them. But I also want to free you from unrealistic expectations surrounding what that means. I find the words of Isaiah 29:13 to be helpful here:
And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men…”
Isaiah 29:13
What the LORD delivers here as an explanation of His judgment against the hypocritical Israelites, I want to offer to you as words of freedom. Freedom from anything that I, or anyone else, would tell you needs to be the standard for your way of leading your family toward Christ. God isn’t nearly as interested in an ideal experience of “family devotions”, as he is in a family who, in spite of obstacles, remains devoted to loving Him and seeking Him.
God isn’t nearly as interested in an ideal experience of “family devotions”, as he is in a family who, in spite of obstacles, remains devoted to loving Him and seeking Him.
Our family has lived in 3 cities and 5 homes in 7 years. We have three very energetic children, a dog, a cat, and another baby due this June. We often have family and guests over in the evening and otherwise we scramble to make things work around meetings, Bible studies, and the dream of getting an evening of relative peace to sit on the couch and watch television without a child hanging off each limb. It is a wonderful, crazy blessed life and I know that many of you are similarly blessed.
American evangelist D.L. Moody was once challenged on his methods for reaching people for Christ by someone and his response was:
“It is clear you don’t like my way of doing evangelism. You raise some good points. Frankly, I sometimes do not like my way of doing evangelism. But I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”
D.L. Moody
No matter how much or how little experience or confidence you have opening the Bible with your family, God will be deeply pleased with your attempts to do so. I am not always pleased with our efforts to get together as a family and seek God, but it is better that we stumble awkwardly in the attempt than that we give up because we have an unreasonable ideal in mind. In a time where our families do not have our typical church programs for our spiritual nourishment, my challenge for you (and for myself) is to somehow and some way spend time together as a family seeking the LORD.
It is better that we stumble awkwardly on than that we give up because we have an unreasonable ideal in mind.
Go to the Scriptures, go to God in prayer, and think about the things of Christ as a family. It won’t be picture perfect, but if it is a heartfelt attempt to know Christ more deeply together, then your Father in Heaven will smile upon it.