“That they should set their hope in God.” Psalm 78:8
Hope is an awesome desire. It brings encouragement. It lifts spirits. It fills the heart with gladness and joy. It produces pleasure and bright outlooks. Everyone wants to have hope but not everyone has it. Some look for it and never find it. Others wish they knew the essence of what it is. It is a universal desire that every person craves. And the Christian has it. Christians have such hope that we know it is more than a desire or expectation.
Christian hope is confidence about tomorrow. Christians know that their future is secure in Christ, because of Christ, and that God will bring them home to be with Christ. The Christian hope is complete assurance of having enteral joy in fellowship with our Risen Savior, Jesus Christ.
As Christian parents, we want our children to hope in Christ alone. We want them to put their trust in Jesus. This is good and this is right. The home ought to be the foundation for evangelism and discipleship. Our children’s formation of spiritual understanding is a great undertaking. And it all rests on hope in Jesus Christ. And while teaching our children this real hope is commanded, it is not a burden that parents carry alone. God is faithful and sovereign and powerful. He gives what Christian parents need to teach their children.
But what are we to teach them? Psalm 78 gives us the answer. Parents are to be witnesses. Sharing God’s character, his awesome deeds, his amazing grace, and magnificent glory with our children. Verse 5 clearly tells parents to teach what God has revealed through the Bible—his testimony and law—so our children will know him and set their hope in God alone.
How do we do that? Here is a brief list to consider:
- Teach them to understand and trust the Gospel.
- Teach them to know the supreme worth of Jesus Christ.
- Teach them to treasure Jesus more than earthly treasures.
- Teach them to find Jesus in the OT and NT, and obey his teachings.
- Teach them to love Jesus and live with his eternal joy regardless of circumstances.
- Teach them to submit to the whole counsel of God and follow Christ even when it’s hard.
- Teach them to walk daily with Jesus and know his voice.
- Teach them to repent of sin and rest in Christ’s accomplishment.
- Teach them to be Christ-minded to do earthly good.
- Teach them to look to Christ and his future reward.
- Teach them to hope in God and wait for his rescue.
You can only do this if you are doing them. You can’t give what you don’t have. You must know, believe, continually confess, love and desire Jesus before you teach your children to. No one does this perfectly, but God promises to work through parents who demonstrate how fallen people put their hope in God alone. If you haven’t done this, it’s not too late. You can start today. Believe. Repent. Hope. Pray. Teach. What a privilege. What a responsibility. What a gift. God is faithful and will give you what you need to pour his truth into your kids.
Psalm 78:5-8
“He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.”