O CTO B E R 2 , 20 18

What Will Make Our Children

Happy?

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 Article by Nicole Whitacre
Guest Contributor

How can we make our children happy? It’s a question that energizes — and agonizes
— parents.

A few summers back, my husband and I jumped at the offer of six free tickets to an
amusement park with some of the best roller-coasters in the country, only to discover
that our children do not like roller-coasters. Worse yet, the very sight of people being

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 hurled around rickety tracks in small cars made our youngest daughter cry. After
driving for two hours, trudging over six miles of hot asphalt, and paying eight dollars
per chicken nugget, we finally got our four biggest smiles when we announced it was
time to go home.

Words of Delight
Every parent knows the disappointment of trying to make our children happy, only to
miss by a mile. Even our most successful plans for their earthly happiness are
temporary at best. But Scripture promises that our children can know lasting
happiness, and it tells us how to lead them there. Happiness is not finally found in a
gift, a party, or a trip, but in the God whom we meet in Scripture. That’s why one
author refers to the Bible as “Words of Delight.” God’s word is “perfect . . . rejoicing
the heart,” “more to be desired . . . than gold,” and the source of “great reward”
(Psalm 19:7–11).

But how do we convince a princess-obsessed toddler or phone-

fixated teenager that this leather-bound, ancient book with
“Happiness is not
small print and big numbers contains more happiness than a
new toy or the latest video game? How do we lead our children finally found in a gift,
to the stream of happiness that is the word of God?
a party, or a trip, but

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 Of course, we cannot manufacture happiness in the hearts of
in the God whom we
our children, but we can position them in the way of happiness.
We do this by setting an example of satisfaction in God’s word, meet in Scripture.”
talking about our love for God’s word, and teaching our children
the daily habit of reading God’s word.

Rejoice in God’s Word

Happy are the parents who regularly read God’s word. Small bites here and there will
leave us malnourished; we need heaping helpings of God’s word to satisfy our souls.
George Müller’s powerful testimony was that, “For the first four years after my
conversion I made no progress, because I neglected the Bible. But when I regularly
read on through the whole with reference to my own heart and soul, I directly made
progress. Then my peace and joy continued more and more.” When regular intake of
God’s word swells our souls with happiness, our children will take notice.

Like many Christians, I can testify that God used my parents’ happiness to draw me to
Christ. I watched my mom get up early each day to read her Bible; I heard my dad
singing (loudly!) and praying over God’s word each morning. It was plain as anything
that they were happy in God. In my young mind it was simple: I wanted what they
had. There is no better way to lead our children to the Words of Delight than to daily
go there ourselves.

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 Talk About God’s Word
Like static from a balloon, our enthusiasm will rub off on our
children as we talk about God’s word. When was the last time
“There is no better
we told our children how Scripture guides us, restores our
souls, disciplines us for our good, or encourages us in way to lead our
weakness? How often do we talk to our children, saying, “Look
children to the Words
what I read in the Bible today!”?
of Delight than to
We gush about our enthusiasm for a sports team, a hobby, or a
favorite song, but how often do we open our mouths to discuss
daily go there
the wonders of God’s word? Talking to our children has a ourselves.”
double-sided effect: it not only transmits our love for Scripture
to them in tangible ways, but also strengthens our own
affections for the word of God.

Help Them Read God’s Word

But our children won’t develop their own appetites for Scripture by taking the
occasional bite from our plate. They need their own generous portions from God’s
word, which is why we must teach them the daily habit of reading God’s word.

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 Sometimes parents hesitate to require their children to read their Bibles. They worry
that it will bore their kids or turn them off. But we don’t learn to love something by
avoiding it. We don’t cultivate affection from a safe distance. We learn to love foods,
hobbies, sports, and people when we get close to them. So it is with God’s word. If we
want our children to love God’s word, they need to regularly read God’s word. If we
truly believe God’s word is the only foundation for life and happiness, the only source
of our joy and peace, then we will do everything we can to teach the habit — to share
the happiness — with our children.

More successful than our trip to the amusement park has been
our family practice of reading through the Bible. We’ve tried
“Of all the gifts we
many different plans through the years; right now our children
are on a two-year plan so our youngest can keep up. We all read give our children,
individually each morning and then we talk about what we’ve
there is no happier
read at family breakfast.
legacy than love for
My husband leads casual but lively conversations about food
restrictions in Leviticus or beasts in Revelation; we ask our kids
God’s word.”
how their daily Bible reading applies to an algebra class or a
soccer match; we marvel together at the grandeur of God’s plan
of redemption woven through a genealogy — all before launching into work or school.
Even though it may not seem as if anything dramatic is taking place, I know God is at
work through his word in the hearts of our children. These conversations are the
sweetest twenty minutes of the day.

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 Happiness Maker
Scripture isn’t merely a happiness map; it’s a happiness maker. It not only shows us
the route to happiness; it carves, calibrates, and curates our children’s desires so that
they long for the things that will make them truly happy: new life in Christ, the fruits
of obedience, fellowship in the church, and the hope of heaven.

Of all the gifts we give our children, there is no happier legacy than love for God
through his word.

Nicole Whitacre is a pastor’s wife, a mother to two boys and two girls, and a homemaker. She is the
co-author, along with her mom, of several books, including True Feelings (2017), and she writes
with her mom and sisters at girltalkhome.com.

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A RT I C L E A RT I C L E

Our Lives in His The Sluggard in Me

Does our right standing before God depend on A life of laziness usually does not grow
our becoming more like Jesus, or does our overnight, but through day after day of little
becoming more like Jesus flow from our right excuses, trivial indulgences, small defeats.
standing before God?

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 Joe Rigney Scott Hubbard

God is most glorified in us WAYS TO FO L LOW

when we are most
satisfied in him
N E W R ESO U RC ES I N YO U R I N BOX
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