In our own unique ways—with our giftings, interests, and resources—we can build a gospel culture in our homes and teach our children what it means to be a disciple of Christ.

When my son was just about a year old, I heard a mom friend say that she was doing scripture memory with her three-year-old because he was, “Such a sponge.” I had other friends reading a story from The Jesus Storybook Bible every night as part of their routine. And still others who were taking their school-aged children to Wednesday night church to learn the Bible with a group.

I remember feeling intimidated and wondering if I was behind. “Should I be doing more scripture memory with my baby?” (I literally thought that, even though he couldn’t talk yet!). Instead of focusing on the long road, making it a goal to consistently expose him to the word of God, I felt apprehensive about each method and strategy.

How do you know what to teach your children about the Bible?

Well, the goal is to equip them to be a disciple of Jesus Christ — to be able to follow him in obedience as adults if they place their faith in him.

Let them see you authentically loving God, repenting when you fail, turning to God in prayer, and studying sound doctrine along with the local church. Involve them when you host neighbors for dinner, encourage them to work hard when no one is looking, and love them as an image-bearer of God. It’s hard to be faithful in this work..., but what to teach them is actually fairly simple. 

Teach them to be a follower of Christ.
 

It started less than an hour after she was born. Still exhausted and overjoyed after delivery, when the long-awaited newborn daughter I cradled began rooting for her first meal, I fed her. Three years (and a baby brother) later, feeding these children remains my primary task in life.

When so much of my brain space is occupied with thoughts of my children’s meals, it’s no surprise that it comes up in conversation with fellow moms. A new friend at a playground exclaimed that watching my toddler son devour a hardboiled egg made her feel guilty about her kids’ chips...
I guess even I feel some guilt about feeding my family sometimes.

...if you can’t shake your longing for guilt-free eating, the gospel reminds us we are in good company. We’re all groaning for the redemption of our bodies at that marvelous feast, but we miss the mark when we assume food choices can provide us a bit of moral superiority on the way. It’s not that caring about food or farming is bad, or that God doesn’t care about it himself. It’s that dividing food into categories that signal our success as a parent, maybe thinking that a “clean” or “natural” menu is a way to uphold our virtue or that feeding our kids more vegetables than crackers can ease our guilt, can go too far...

The Christian life is not about what we’re putting in our mouths, but what has come out of God’s. Our food choices are of some value, but not eternal value; God’s word stands firm forever.
 

Even if you only shared the basic message of the gospel with your child 1 time every 2 weeks, by the age of 5, they will have already heard the good news of Jesus about 130 times.

130 times for the pattern of of creation, fall, restoration, redemption to be heard and absorbed.
 

I look down at my shoes, worn black Vans, and rub the dried formula off the toe. I hastily tuck my hair behind my ears and catch my baby girl smiling at me from the corner of my eye. I move to the stove to look down at the oatmeal I'm making for breakfast, stirring in raisins and obscene amounts of peanut butter to try to hold off the request for a snack for at least a couple hours.  

There's this thing I've noticed when you become a mom, it happens abruptly beginning with the first night of the first babe, yet I'd be willing to bet that most moms don't even notice it happening. It's subtle, a common thread among all of motherhood - but one that would rather not be noticed, not be plucked out and put on display.

"What does the church need to give moms this Mother's Day?" <--- a question we received on Twitter that's worth considering ...

At first, my brain shuffled through the obvious things: the church needs to support moms, to thank them, to equip them for discipleship, and to provide outlets for fellowship and spiritual growth. These messages, at some level, always feel timely and helpful. But as I thought about it more, what moms really need to hear from their church this Mother's Day isn't a burdensome statement about the hugeness of their calling, a heartfelt "thanks" that can sometimes fall on deaf ears due to guilt, or a list of ways they can do even better in motherhood...

What moms really need, if we are to give them the strength to run the race set before them, is a reminder of who they are and what they have in Christ.

I think every person has a desire to see results - to feel like something is happening from our efforts, that they're making a difference. We are a culture of instant gratification after all. But when all you're doing most of the day is picking up fuzz, crumbs and toys off the floor, it can be hard to see the value. It feels very ... small. But the truth is, motherhood is not small work. It is a slow process, one that isn't obvious or grand to the world - it takes stamina, patience and vision - but the results are things legacies are made of. 

My motherhood is filled with lofty expectations, that often leave me with anger, frustration, and irritability. The truth is that I'm utterly and completely limited in my humanness. I'm not able. Only Jesus is.