When the Family Worships God
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:13-14
Family worship carries us through a world that is hostile to God. Samaria was hostile territory Jesus had to travel through on His way from Judea to Galilee. Jesus grew tired and stopped at Jacob’s well to get a drink of water—He was thirsty. Children have thirsting souls that thirst for more than this world can offer. The story of The Woman at the Well in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John, in metaphorical terms, promises that one’s spirit and soul will find full satisfaction when we worship God “in spirit and in Truth.” I was only four-years-old when I sat in a back pew listening to my mother who was the church organist and my father who sang bass in the church choir practice the next Sunday’s anthem. Even at three and four years of age an anthem like “Break Thou the Bread of life dear Lord to me,” caused my spirit to pant for God.
Now at 91 as I was waiting in the lobby for a doctor’s appointment, a 12-year-old girl sat down in the chair right next to me. I wanted very much just to say hi. She slouched in the chair with her elbows resting on the arms of the chair while her attention focused intently on her IPhone held in her hands.
The challenge has never been greater to find ways to awaken the spirits of our young to seek the living God. Occasionally there are those who specialize in entertaining children in an “altar talk” Sunday school teachers find it difficult to converse with children about God because children don’t talk about Him, “they only know how to text.” C.S. Lewis whose heart went out to the young says that the Word of God commands us to realize that the worship of God requires spiritual discipline and growth in the spiritual understanding of the meaning of worship. All too often, parents strung out with the frenzies of life, satisfy their guilt by bringing their children “to church.”
C. S. Lewis said parents need to know what the spirit of worship means so they are able to allow their children the opportunity to experience the worship of God with them.
Maybe somewhere out there in “cyber space” someone, just someone, might be moved by the spirit to make time in their cluttered lives for family worship. It can be simple; calling on the presence of the Triune God; maybe a short hymn; words from a favorite devotional. If there be time, let their children ask questions about God and be prepared to answer their questions. Have them look up a scripture passage and let them tell what they think it means and guide them into a fuller understanding.
Children have souls that thirst for God. Do not neglect the short time given to let the Spirit dwell among you. Start somewhere before it is too late. “God is spirit, πνεῦμα ὁ θεός, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:24 God is love. If you as a parent treasure the glories of Christ, you will be given the strength and power to glorify Him in the presence of your children. If you are eager to know Him, that spirit will be passed on to your children. When your faith, day after day, enfolds the greater wonders of Christ, by virtue of its spiritual nature, it will set aflame the fire of faith in your children.
