Teach your children well
Their father’s hell
They’ll slowly go by… ¹
— Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God…Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
- 1 John 3:1a, 2

One incredibly problematic error common to us who consider ourselves “reformed” is that we tend to strain out the gnat. Yes, we think - nay, obsess - way too much over the tiniest details. Now, before you get your guard up about this accusation and hurl font bombs across the electronic pond in that “mailto:” link down below, allow me to really mess with your head: just think about it. When I say, “think too much”, I mean a certain type of analytical, rationalistic type of thinking. Many “reformed” types came out of the mainline evangelical scene, rightly recognizing a tendency toward emotionalism. But as is often the case with us sinful types, we ran too far the other way. It seems that many of us think that we have been made alive in Christ in order to be pale-faced stoics exercising ourselves in an orgy of mental gymnastics. Not so, dear hearts. The head games we once played are dead.

If you have a bible nearby, turn to the end of the book of Psalms. Now, just glance over Psalms 146-150. What immediately jumps out at you? “PRAISE!” Every one of these psalms begins “Praise the Lord!” In other words, “HALLELUJAH!” This is the climax with no falling action. This is the wonderful end of the gospel: the saints leading all of creation in a glorious and resounding “Hallelujah” chorus.

Does this seem beautiful to you? Does it seem so awesome, powerful, and glorious that you want it badly? Me too. But how do we get there? Well, wow. That’s a simple question with a loaded answer. Rather, might we ask, “What can I do?” Well, that is something I myself have been pondering for a long while. I have many ideas, but one that sticks with me is to orient my life around worship, and to seek the same in the lives of my loved ones. When I have children, I will teach them to be worshippers rather than thinkers. That is not to say that my children will be mindless music machines, but I will seek to ground their minds in a marvelous appreciation for God’s glory. After all, our Lord’s beauty, truth, and goodness (in a word, His holiness) are the beginning of our faith, and the essence of worship.

I have seen something truly tragic happen more than once. Christian kids grow up in the covenant, do the home-school thing, know their memory verses every week at the crack of the whip, learn their isms out the wazoo (not a pretty thing to behold in any sense), go to church every week, listen to the “blah-blah-blah” from the preachers mouth, watch the congregation pretentiously sing hymns with their wrists nailed to their hips, and then go off to the real world. In the end, one of two things seems to happen: they hear Neil Young and get touched in the heart for the first time ever, or they read Nietzsche and everything comes crashing down. These are extreme generalizations, but it happens, and often. Nevertheless, all too often, the young Christian goes through an extreme crisis of faith that leaves him either a hopeless cynic or something much more hypocritical and far, far worse.

So what is missing in this scenario? The answer is quite simple, really: love. We all know the greatest commandment and the other by heart, but somehow we still don’t manage to get it. Love, however, is not simply a nod and an austere look on one’s face. It’s a dance; it’s a fire; it’s enraptured, romantic, and enthralling; it’s the tears that Jesus cried in the shortest verse. It’s something you can see, taste, touch, hear, sing, and, dare I say, dance. It’s something that makes you want to run out on the street and tell everybody about it. When we teach our children every jot and tittle of the Catechism, but don’t teach them who Daddy really is, they grow up just as fatherless as the orphan.²

I think it goes without saying that most of us could do better to pay closer attention to the most fundamental teachings of Jesus, and I mean the really simple sound-byte types. After all, we’re all children with respect to the Master. Here are a few good ones to consider in conjunction with this topic:

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”³

“Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”⁴

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”⁵

Now I’m not making excuses for anyone, and I’m not naïve. I know that God raises the child and calls those whom He will. I merely emphasize that we can do a lot to help along our covenantal brothers and sisters. As James Jordan writes, “It is fine to be an intellectual, but we must be worshippers.”⁶ And the really good news is that none of us has to wait for someone to write the book on this subject. We can all begin right where we are, this day. All it takes is a smile in our hearts and a song on our faces - much preferable to the status quo, in my book.⁷

Teach yourself and those who come after you to worship the Lord, first and foremost. It’s what we were all created to do, and it’s the melody of life.

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His might firmament!
Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Hallelujah!⁸

Footnotes:
1. Nash, Graham. “Teach Your Children Well.”
2. I’ve been told that a baby’s first words are overwhelmingly “da-da.” Coincidence? Perhaps. Perhaps…
3. Luke 10:41-42 I realize these verses are taken out of context. Of course, the “good part” is to sit at the Lord’s feet and revel in His truth and glory.
4. Luke 18:16-17
5. Matthew 22:37-39
6. Jordan, James. “The Case Against Western Civilization, part 6.” Open Book no. 41.
7. Yes, that’s right - a smile in our hearts…you’re reading it correctly.
8. Psalm 150