One of the biggest keys to successful lifeschooling is to teach our children to love God with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength…and of course one of the best ways to do that is to help them learn to love the Bible, God’s love letter to them! That’s why I was excited when I first heard of Danika Cooley’s new book, Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible.
I recently had the opportunity to read through a portion of her book and I am so excited to recommend it to you! This is a practical book that will help you better disciple your kids. Danika has written a great blog post below that should help you get a better flavor for what this book is all about.
Is studying the Bible in context important? Here’s why you want to teach your children to study the Bible in the context of chapter and book.
A few years ago, there was a meme floating around on social media. It had a picture of one of those verse-of-the-day tear-off calendars.
The verse read, “If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.”
The calendar page was adorned with flowers, and made quite a pretty scene.
It sounded promising, too. I mean, we already worship God, right? And everything being ours sounds fabulous. The verse quotation is the words of the King James Version Bible–all in the right order.
Here’s the problem.
The verse on the calendar page was pulled from Luke 4:1-13, which is the section of Scripture that describes the beginning of Jesus’ ministry when the Holy Spirit leads him into the wilderness, Jesus fasts for 40 days, and then Satan tempts him.
God isn’t speaking in Luke 4:7. Satan is.
Satan is trying to tempt Jesus—the Creator of Heaven and Earth (Hebrews 1)—to worship him by offering him authority over all the kingdoms in the world. That is a ridiculous offer, since Jesus already has authority over all things everywhere.
We cannot cherry pick things out of the Bible without context. When we do, we risk serious error in our understanding and application.
It is so important that our kids understand the context of the entire story of the Bible.
Grab your FREE Bible Study Tool Kit–over 130 pages of Bible resources for your family!
Studying the Bible in Context
The really good news is that the Bible is a story. Our kids are built for story by their Creator, and they love and understand a good story.
The Bible also contains a series of smaller stories that help push God’s narrative forward and that give us a better and deeper understanding of who God is, our sin nature and need for a Savior, the gospel, and of Jesus’ commands for his followers.
Because our kids understand and love stories, reading the Bible with them is really doable. We can keep Scripture in context. Once they know and understand the grand context, they will begin to understand how to rightly handle the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
That’s what really want for our kids—we want them to be able to faithfully read the Bible, presenting themselves to God as approved workers with no need to be ashamed.
Danika Cooley’s book Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible is your crash course on teaching the Bible to your kids. Danika is an award-winning children’s author and Bible curriculum developer, and her popular Bible Road Trip™ is used by tens of thousands of families.
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