Reading the Bible with Your Children

Reading the Bible with our son has been such a great blessing in our family. For some time we had been reading to him out of a Bible storybook. Then one day my husband stumbled across an article on Titus2.com about reading to your little ones out of the “real” Bible. While I was not initially convinced, I submitted to his decision and he began reading to our son a segment out of the Bible every night, starting in Revelation (of all places!). We originally read out of the NKJV, but then switch to NIV because it is an accurate translation and easier for a youngster to follow. Eventually we bought our son his very first “real” Bible, a VeggieTales NIV Bible, which we now read from with him. I think it’s special that he has his own little Bible which he can look at during Bible study at our LIFE Group (it has Veggie-Tales comic strip inserts relating to Bible stories) and when we read to him in the evenings we’re reading from his very own Bible. He also has a Hermie Plush Backpack Bible Cover and you can get a Hermie & Friend’s Bible to go with it.

Hermie Bible Backpack

Inside the Bible

Another inside picture with a comic strip

The outside of Ben’s Bible

While it took me quite awhile to be completely sold on the idea, I was amazed that our son would actually pick up on things from the text. Ben is sometimes reluctant (especially at first), but he is actually absorbing the Word of God. A child’s mind is much more complex and ready to understand things than we often think. A recent example of how Ben is really getting it was when he was playing with his cars the other day. He was playing with the ones from the Disney-Pixar movie Cars, and I heard him tell one of the cars that “the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.” He even said “shall.” It just melted my mommy heart. I love that he is actually picking up on these concepts; all it takes is a mommy and daddy willing to put up with the fussing and actually read the Bible to their children.

I encourage you today to start reading to your children from the Word of God. They may not look like they are listening or care, but it is being absorbed.

Proverbs 22:6 – “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” ESV

Isaiah 55:11 – “so shall my words be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” ESV

2 Timothy 2:15 – “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” ESV