Teaching Them to Think Christianly

Series: Standing Firm in Shifting Sands: The Gospel in a Transformed Culture | Equipping the Next Generation – Day 2

"Pay attention and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips." (Proverbs 22:17-18)

Good morning, friends! Most of us can remember a moment when we watched a child we love encounter an idea that contradicted everything we had taught them, and we realized in that instant that we had given them information but not the tools to evaluate it. We had told them what we believed but had not yet taught them how to think. That gap is one of the most urgent challenges facing Christian families today, and God’s Word has something profound to say about it.

Line Upon Line, Truth Upon Truth

The psalmist puts a question before us that cuts straight to the heart of what we are after as parents and grandparents and teachers of the young: "How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." (Psalm 119:9-11) The answer is not stricter rules, tighter oversight, or any external pressure that bypasses the heart. The answer is a Word hidden in the heart. A mind formed by Scripture does not merely know what to believe; it has been shaped from the inside, so that when false ideas arrive and pressure mounts, there is something already present to push back. This is the goal we are working toward whenever we open the Bible with our children: not information deposited, but truth internalized.

The writer to the Hebrews understood what it looks like when this formation has not happened. Addressing a congregation that had plateaued in their spiritual development, he pressed them: "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." (Hebrews 5:12-14) The phrase that deserves our full attention is this: by constant use have trained themselves. God has written a basic moral awareness on every human heart; a conscience that recoils from obvious wrong is part of how He made us. But that general awareness is not enough to navigate a culture that has become skilled at calling evil good and good evil. The deep, practiced discernment that can test ideas against Scripture, that can recognize a subtle lie wrapped in appealing language, that can hold firm when the pressure to conform is enormous: that kind of discernment is trained. It does not come automatically. It comes through constant, faithful immersion in God’s Word. This is exactly what we are building when we bring our children into Scripture not just occasionally but consistently, not just for information but for formation.

A Pattern Worth Passing On

The early church held up the Bereans as a model worth emulating. After receiving teaching from the apostle Paul himself, they did not simply accept it because of who was speaking. Acts 17:11 tells us: "Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." Two things made the Bereans remarkable. First, they received with eagerness, not with suspicion or hostility. Second, they evaluated everything by Scripture. That combination is precisely what we want to cultivate in our children: an open, receptive heart that nonetheless measures all teaching against the Word of God. Not cynicism, not credulity, but the trained discernment that comes from knowing Scripture well enough to test what they hear.

The psalmist captures the generational vision behind all of this in words that feel written for our moment. Psalm 78:5-7 speaks of what God established when He commanded parents to teach their children: "He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands." The goal of teaching children to think Christianly reaches further than the children in front of us. It reaches to grandchildren not yet born, to a chain of faithful minds shaped by Scripture across generations. When we are faithful now, we are investing in people we will never meet.

All of this leads somewhere specific. A mind formed by Scripture is a mind prepared to give an account of what it believes and why. Peter writes: "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." (1 Peter 3:15) Notice where the preparation begins: not in argument or rhetoric, but in the heart. Revere Christ as Lord. A Christian mind is not primarily a debating tool. It is a mind that has been captured by Jesus Christ, shaped by His Word, grounded in His grace, and nourished at His table. When we teach our children to think Christianly, we are not training debaters. We are forming disciples. And disciples, as the church has always known, may one day be called to stand at real cost for the name of Jesus Christ. The question is not whether they will face that moment. The question is whether we have fed them well enough on His Word and sustained them faithfully enough at His table that they will be ready when it comes.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I confess that I have sometimes been content to hand my children beliefs without teaching them how to hold those beliefs wisely. I have given them answers without teaching them how to ask the right questions. Forgive me for the times I assumed that Sunday mornings were sufficient, or that faith absorbed by proximity would be enough to sustain them when the culture pressed hard. Thank You for Your patience with me and with them, and for Your Word that is sufficient for every generation.

Today, I commit to the slow and faithful work of formation. Give me wisdom to teach not just what I believe but why, to open Scripture with my children and show them how it speaks to every corner of life. Help me to model the Berean habit of eagerness and examination. Help me to trust that the same Spirit who illumines Your Word in my heart is at work in my children as well. Thank You that this is not work I do alone but work I do with You. In Jesus’s name, I pray. Amen.

As we go through this day, let us remember that we are not trying to produce children who can win arguments. We are trying to raise people whose minds have been so thoroughly shaped by Christ that they think His thoughts more naturally than the culture’s. That work is daily, unhurried, and full of grace. Every dinner table conversation about what they heard at school, every question we take seriously instead of deflecting, every time we open the Bible together rather than reaching for a screen, it all matters. The formation is slow, but the fruit is lasting.

Praise to You, Lord, for a Word that shapes minds and steadies hearts across every generation! Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we praise You for the gift of Scripture that trains us to think clearly, love truly, and live faithfully. How great is Your faithfulness to Your children!

To God be the glory.

Pray, praise, and give thanks, for God is good and His mercy endures forever.

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