Latest / Homeschool Insights - Biblical Home Education Inspiration in Under 10 Minutes! / Your Kids Need to STUDY the Bible—Not Just Read It - Kim Sorgius Jones
Transcript
- speaker-0: We think ⁓ you know, that quietness is holiness, but in your house it's it's not the same thing, and I think that's the biggest hurdle that we have for well, really a lot of things, but definitely for time and the word, yeah, is you know, ⁓ looking for the perfect thing. speaker-1: I was doing some research. It seems kind of funny to do research on Bible study because this is such a big part of our life. But I was doing some research on just how like how do we teach the Bible to our kids? And one of the things that I came across that I thought was so interesting, and this is I I almost hesitate to say where it's from, because I don't agree with many of the things that they post, but I agree with a lot of the things that they post. But it's from the Gospel Coalition. ⁓ and one of the things that they said in this article where they were talking about teaching your kids how to study the Bible is that Bible reading is not Bible study. And that really caught my eye. And I thought, ⁓ wow. And and it says this. It says Bible study is not the same as Bible reading. If Bible reading is like ⁓ it says if Bible reading is like raking for leaves, Bible study is like digging for diamonds. The Christian life calls for both. And I thought that is so true because often we think that, well, if we just read the Bible, we're studying the Bible, but not necessarily. We can read the Bible, whether we're listening to it or reading ⁓ you know, our physical Bible or listening to a sermon. On a Sunday morning or Wednesday night or whenever, or listening to a podcast about Bible study. We can do all of these things, but that's all very different than actually studying the Word of God. And so we want to talk about how we can study God's word with our kids and teach them to become passionate about God's word because it's life-changing. I mean, there's nothing more life-changing than knowing the word of God, and we can only know it if we study it. So talk for a few minutes about just what. What that looks like, what does it look like to study God's word with our kids? speaker-0: ⁓ it's messy. I'll say that. And I think that's one of the things that trips up people the most. And so it's a good place to start. ⁓ you know, I ⁓ when I speak at conferences, I have a picture of my sec my daughter ⁓ with a bucket on her head and her hair is like wrapped around it and we're sitting at the table and you can see that like the Bible And some other stuff is sitting there. And I'm like, if this is what your family devotions look like, you're in good company. Like it's normal. Like, you know, we we think ⁓ you know, that quietness is holiness, right? And it's not. It it's not at all. I mean, in a church setting, perhaps, because you're disrupting other people and you need to ⁓ we gotta be a little bit more quiet so we can hear what's going on and stuff, but in your house, it's it's not the same thing. And so You know, we get wrapped up in thinking, ⁓ you know, my kids then might interrupt or this might happen or that might happen and we can't, you know, get it done. And I think that's the biggest hurdle that we have for well, really a lot of things, but definitely for time and word, yeah, is, you know, mm looking for the perfect thing, looking for the quiet kids, looking for the sitting still kids, like you know, like all of those things. And that's not gonna happen. So, you know, if we can throw that out first, that's gonna help us a lot as we proceed through, you know, what does this need to look like, you know, next. And You know, so that's one of the things that I think trip people up. The other thing that I think trips them up I kind of alluded to already and that's not using the Bible. Yeah. Right. It's amazing how many people are like, Yeah, we're studying the Bible and they're not reading the Bible. Yeah. And I'm like speaker-1: Are really? speaker-0: Well, we're reading this really great book. Okay, good. But that's not the Bible. And then and there are some good books out there. But you know, as as we're seeing, you know, I mean, I I think in today's culture we're seeing more and more and more ⁓ you know, resources, trusted places where you maybe previously would be like, Well, I'm not afraid to to read a quote from this place. Yeah. Now I am, you know, because they're shifting their views like We can't set our kids up for that. We have to make sure that our kids know here is the truth. And the truth is in the Bible. And you don't don't listen to my words. Don't listen to your friend's words. Don't listen to this guy's words. Don't even listen to your pastor's words. Yeah. You get in the Bible and make sure you know that what they're saying is true. Yeah. And you gotta find it. You gotta study it and you gotta find it for yourself, you know? Yes. And that is just I you know, there's never been a time in history where it's more important than it is now that our kids are getting that. Right. So we have to, you know, get rid of those books that are like, well, this is the story version of the Bible. No, we need the Bible. Right. Absolutely the real Bible. And so ⁓ that's the other thing I find. Okay, so since we're talking about errors and things that I find people kind of don't get quite right when they when they walk into this, the third is they ⁓ do it very corporately. Studying the Bible can't be a corporate thing. Right. So You know, and if you think about it, the the best way to explain it is, you know, you go to church and right the pastor is preaching and you're catching some stuff. And if you go home and talk to your family about what the pastor said and you discuss the sermon, it's amazing the stuff that other people catch. That you're like, Yeah, I didn't catch that. Right. But you sat in the same sermon, didn't you? It's like, wait, how did we miss that? But that's the way it works, right? Because we're we're only hearing part of it. Some of us hear a little bit more because some of us will catch more when when we're ⁓ processing something auditory auditory. And some of us don't get that. Some of us that's that's a struggle. And so we need, you know, for me, I really like to see it. So you'll you know, I'm I'm in church always with my Bible and he's reading it, and I'm like, I've got to see it. Right. Because it doesn't quite translate for me right when you're talking as much as when I'm looking at it and I'm reading those words. So Bible study in your house can't be corporate and it can't be, you know, and I just ⁓ we see this happen all the time. You know, we go and buy a Bible study, one, and mom is sitting around the table with six little ones and reading it out loud. And it's the same thing as going to church. It's not that it's bad. I mean, anything anything you're getting out of church is amazing, right? Right, yes. ⁓ assuming you've got a sound pastor. ⁓ but if you really want more. And you really want to know the word, you going to church isn't enough. Right. It's not enough to just hear what the pastor is saying. Right. You gotta go home, you gotta open up the Bible, and you gotta see. First of all, you need to test that what he's saying is true. Yeah. But then second of all, you need to apply this to your life, right? Right. And so as you're doing that, you know, you've got to have the Bible and you've got to have it yourself. Yes. And ⁓ so that those are kind of important things that I think, you know, if there's a secret potion That's it. You know, get a Bible. Get every kind of bib. speaker-1: Step one. speaker-0: ⁓ I mean, I you know, I'm not about translating there's, you know, you pick the translation, ⁓ you study and decide for your family what the best translation is, but you can't, you know, translation is not the same as completely paraphrased storybook, devotional book type content. Yep. And so be very careful about finding those kinds of things and calling them the Bible. You know, they may have a place. Right. But it's not to study the Bible. Right. Because it's not the Bible. Absolutely. You know, and we want that for our kids. We want them to have that. Their own Bible. Their own tools in general, actually. And and you would do that with every other subject. But the light bulb always goes on for moms when I say, So, when you bought a math curriculum for your kids, did you read it out loud at the table? No. You wouldn't even think to do that. Right. And did you buy only one? speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: They covered all age levels and just figured they would just figure it out. Right. No, you didn't do that because you wouldn't even like you you you know that that makes no sense for math. Right. The Bible is the same. It doesn't make sense for the Bible either. What you can study in the Bible as a seven or eight year old is very different than what my 19 year old can study in the Bible. Right. You know, it's we're at different levels, Steven, you know, and we're we may be at different levels maturity wise, we're at different levels, you know, spiritually. But we're definitely at different levels in what we can read and process, you know, at those stages. And that's normal and that's good. But you know, we wouldn't expect them to be processing that same thing, you know, in a math lesson. We shouldn't expect that in Bible easy. speaker-1: This episode of Homeschool Insights is brought to you by BJU Press Homeschool, CTC Math, and the Explorer Bible for Kids. Visit the show notes to learn more about these excellent resources. And for more encouragement, listen to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast at schoolhouserocked.com.