Every Sunday in churches across America, gleeful preschool children sing out the favorite traditional song: “The B-i-b-l-e , yes that’s the book for me!” It’s a familiar song to those of us who grew up in church and learned about the Bible at a young age.
But I sometimes wonder if we understand just how important it is to teach the Bible to little children today. We know from Scripture that the Apostle Paul understood how important it is. In his letter to Timothy, Paul reminded the young preacher of the spiritual training in his early childhood years that brought him to faith in Christ. Paul writes, From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.2 Timothy 3:15
Like Timothy, I was blessed with a mother—and grandmothers —who taught me the great stories of the Bible and helped me learn portions of Scripture. When I was just five years old, my mother helped me memorize the first chapter of the book of Psalms. Although I understood some of the verses, I didn’t understand all the words in the King James Version. I didn’t grasp much about “the seat of the scornful” or the “chaff which the wind driveth away” (Psalms 1:1 & 4). But when I was older I learned more about the meaning of those words. As I grew, my understanding grew. And that Psalm has stayed with me throughout my adult years!
My Sunday school teachers understood the value of teaching Scripture to children too. My 5th grade teacher, encouraged our class to learn Bible verses each week. I took the challenge and enjoyed watching the gold stars accumulate each Sunday on the chart until at last I earned my very own Bible! It was special because of the gold edged pages and the golden zipper with a cross. But what made the award even more special was the appreciation and praise of my teacher. She expected us to learn and do well, and we did. Her teaching was not too hard for us to grasp—but it was not too easy either. I had to think in her class and I liked that! I’m not sure if my teacher knew how much she influenced my life, actually I doubt that she could know. But now as I recall those days, I’m encouraged and believe that my young students will one day benefit from learning their Bible verses each week too!
Helping children learn and memorize Scripture is an important part of our teaching ministry because it will help them grow spiritually. It will help them now—and in the years to come. We don’t know what the future holds for our students, where they will be ten or twenty years from now, but we can prepare them for the days and years ahead by helping them hide God’s Word in their hearts.
In my next blog, I’ll discuss different methods for teaching Scripture to children that are both effective and easy to use.
God bless you as you teach today!
Verda Rubottom
