Children learn love
of God from their parents. Every Orthodox parent wants their children to grow
up attending Sunday Liturgies and staying active in the life of the Church
throughout their lives, yet many parents don’t demonstrate the importance of
having a relationship with God in front of their children. If you do not make
God important, then neither will your child.
Children observe
their parents. They see hypocrisy and know when you are not following through
with the teachings of the Church during the week. They hear when you take the
Lord’s name in vain. They observe when you don’t make prayer central to your
day. They notice if you only speak of God on a Sunday morning.
Making the sign of
the cross, lighting candles, and burning incense only on Sundays teaches your
children to compartmentalize their own faith, thus leaving them defenseless in
a world fulled with temptations and distractions from things that are of a
spiritual nature. If you do not demonstrate the importance of prayer before
your children, you will leave them defenseless in a world that hates Christ.
Your children need to pray with you, read the Scriptures with you, be taught
the Faith by you.
If you do not make
your home a domestic church, your children will be lost to Christ, and Orthodoxy
will not be lived out beyond your own grave, in the future generations of your
family.
You men must be
particularly careful in how you demonstrate your Orthodox faith to your
children. Statistically, if a man is strong in his faith and strong in his
witness to that faith by frequent church attendance, children will remain in
the Church. Men need to take that leading role in their families as being men
of God, demonstrating in their own masculine way that God is central in their
lives. If you leave the instruction of the faith to your wives, you will be
held accountable before the throne of God. It is not enough that your wife and
children go to church. If you are not giving witness to Christ in your life,
all will be lost to the next generations.
By the Very Rev. Fr. Tryphon
Source: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/morningoffering/how_to_teach_children_the_love_of_god
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