Teach Your Children to Love

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How to Really Love Your Children by medical doctor Ross Campbell was a popular parenting book when we were rearing our children. I am sure that really loving your children is the basis for your decision to homeschool them. Two of our responsibilities while homeschooling is teaching—-and showing—-our children how to really love God and really love everyone else.*

Jesus tells us how to do that:

“You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your mind.”
Matthew 22:38

“‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 22:39

First we love God completely and then we love others as we want to be loved. Jesus’ words and the inspired words of the Bible give us details that define the kind of love God requires of us. God’s love for us is our example of love.

We love, because He first loved us.
1 John 4:19

Love includes obedience:

“If you love Me,
you will keep My commandments.”
John 14:15

Love for God and love for our neighbor go hand in hand.

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God,
and whoever loves the Father
loves the child born of Him.
1 John 5:1

By this we know that we love the children of God,
when we love God and observe His commandments.
1 John 5:2

Love must be constant and consistent. We must meet the needs of those we love every day and never leave them wondering:

But encourage one another day after day
as long as it is still called “Today,”
so that none of you will be hardened
by the deceitfulness of sin.
Hebrews 3:13

Our love for others must be fervent:

Our love for others requires action.

Ladies of the Helping Hand society
work on a quilt in Gage County, Nebraska,
October 1938, photo by John Vachon,
courtesy of the Library of Congress

Ray and I have been seeing love in action during this week of testing for him, and we are very grateful. Many have sent loving messages and inquiries. My brother joined us for dinner Monday night. Two friends drove a long way to spend last evening with us. A friend plans to join me in my waiting today. I am thankful they made time for loving us. When we make time for loving, God uses that loving to touch people’s hearts with His love.

Little children, let us not love
with word or with tongue,
but in deed and truth.
1 John 3:18

 

 

 

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