CEB Blog - Back to School: Ordinary Instruction

Back to School: Ordinary Instruction

With back-to-school season in full swing, you might have noticed your social media filling with amazing ideas for teaching your child. Scrolling through Instagram feeds, Pinterest walls and TikTok videos, it’s easy to become convinced that you are just not cut out for it. These sources show us an unending stream of fun, brilliant, elaborate, creative, clever and sometimes costly examples of teaching activities. Though we have our moments where the qualities shine in our lives as well, if we are constantly measuring ourselves against the best social media has to offer, we will routinely find that we have fallen short of its glory.  

Though these qualities might be what is necessary to generate likes, shares and subscriptions, thankfully they are not what is most important when it comes to our children’s training. Consider one of the most important passages on instruction, Deuteronomy 6:4-7. 

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: and thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” 

When it comes to raising children in the faith, what qualities does God show us are most necessary?  

• Personal Application—thou shalt love the LORD … and these word… shall be in thine heart  
• Intentionality—thou shalt teach them diligently 
• Consistency—when thou sittest … when thou liest down, and when thou risest up 
• Opportunity Seeking—when thou walkest by the way 

According to this passage, instructing children in loving God is not the task of always creating the most amazing faith experience possible. Instead, it looks more like praying with your child in the morning before they start their day; apologizing and expressing repentance when you do wrong so your child can see reconciliation in practice; your family sharing their thankful moments and pressing concerns at the dinner table, then turning those thoughts toward God; and telling a Bible story before bed. It is more important to make instruction ordinary than to make it extraordinary.  

These principles are ultimately good for any instruction. If a parent will commit themselves to knowing what they are seeking to instruct their child in, instructing their child with purpose and regularity and looking for organic opportunities to practically apply that instruction in everyday life, that parent has the qualities it takes to train their child. God has called every parent to be their child’s first teacher. Thankfully, he has more than equipped them to do so!