"Tell Me the Story!" Reading the Bible With Your Children (on Easter and every other day of the year)
I love reading to my kids.
I love doing different voices for each character in their stories, and trying to capture the emotion and drama of the story in my intonation.There's a kind of sacred space that is created when you intentionally sit down with children, immersing yourselves together in a story. It's a powerful experience that other kinds of media don't quite replicate.
Some of my favorite reading times are when we do family devotions together before bed. My kids are still pretty young, so we read out of their children's Bible, then close with a Psalm from the "grown up Bible." It's truly the most precious part of my day. I love how the story of David and Goliath stirs their spirit of adventure. I love to see the wonder in their eyes as they imagine the parting of the Red Sea. I even love how we grapple together through the difficult story of Abraham and Isaac.
But mostly, I love how they are drawn to Jesus.Sometimes, they are compelled by really funny things. Like, when he was two, my son was fascinated by the picture of Jesus on the cross because you could see Jesus' armpits. My oldest daughter is three, and she loves baby Jesus—because she loves all babies. My youngest daughter is four months old, and she's too busy eating and pooping to care about any of it.
But some my kids' favorite stories are the ones where Jesus interacts with children. In reading those accounts to them, I am often moved afresh by Jesus' great attentiveness to kids. While Jesus always demonstrated the character of the Father, you see it come out in a special way when he talked with little ones. Through his interactions with children, Jesus reminded his disciples (and us) that, no matter how old we are, no matter how much knowledge we may amass, no matter how complicated our lives may get, no matter how lost in our sin we become, God still invites us to come to him like a child—in humility and wonder—but mostly, I think, with familiarity and affection.In fact, the amazing message of the Gospel is that Jesus—God's eternally begotten Son—was born as a child so that we could be transformed from criminals standing before an angry Judge, into children who approach the Father in the same way that little ones run to a good and loving parent. He became what we were so that we could become what He is.I truly believe that the more each of us sees ourselves in this way, the more our desires, actions, and experiences will begin to mirror Jesus' own life.
As a father, I know that the more time I spend getting to know Jesus, the more I will become like my Heavenly Father, and the better I will be at helping my kids see what God is really like.
But I digress…This blog post is about the importance of introducing kids to Jesus by reading the Bible with them. But, as you can see by my ramblings, when we read to our children about Jesus, we get to see Him in new ways! We are invited again into his gentleness and patience. We are compelled anew by his great love. We see what true goodness looks like. And we are reminded of the humbling simplicity of the gospel.So, I invite you to take the opportunity to read the Bible with your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or cousins—really any child that you know! Tell them the stories of Jesus. Through those stories, He will move powerfully in their lives… and in yours too.
Christian Rafetto