LIFE IS YOUR CLASSROOM

When someone is learning how to fix a car, his practical training would probably take place in a mechanic shop. If the topic were badminton, the practical training would take place on the badminton court. In the case of Christians, the topic is the foundational principles and concepts that are to govern who we are, our behaviour, our lives, and our relationship with God and others. Therefore, the practical training needs to take place in a relevant venue – moment by moment, day by day, in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

The Bible has not been taught once a great principle has been explained and a verse memorized. No one becomes a great quarterback through classroom instruction alone. Would you care how many books the surgeon who is about to take out your appendix had read if you knew that was the sum total of his training? On the other hand, you’d be equally scared of a surgeon who had never read any books about the human body or the techniques of surgery but was on his second operation – and doing much better.

God has designed the world and us so that learning about the things of God and applying them in everyday life happen together. That’s the idea behind Deuteronomy 6:6-9. We’re to talk about God’s instruction for our lives when we sit at home, when we’re on the road, when we lie down at night and when we get up in the morning. This cannot be accomplished merely by taking our children to church, and reading them Bible stories.

We need to demonstrate to our children by our example that our faith is about who we are, how we act, and what we do – as well as about what we believe. When we teach our children about their faith in this way, connecting our teaching with our life, our teaching method matches our message and becomes more effective.

This article is from Focus on the Family Malaysia. For further enquiries, kindly contact Focus on the Family (M) Sdn. Bhd., 6-2, Jalan Bersatu 13/4, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Tel: 03-7954 7920, Fax: 03-7954 7858 Email: focus@family.org.my Web: www.family.org.my