Part 2: The Importance of Teaching Character to Your Children

      10    Compelling Reasons 

      (Reasons 1-4 this week)

1. When we teach our children what character qualities are, we are teaching them to understand Jesus better.  Jesus is our perfect example of every character quality. Consider His:

·         hospitality in the feeding of the 5000,

·         self-control in the Garden of Gethsemanae,

·         meekness before Pilate, his determination as he set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem knowing what awaited him there,

·         flexibility as he was stopped by the woman with the issue of blood who touched him and was healed,

·         orderliness in dividing the crowd up in groups of 100’s and 50’s as he instructed his disciples to feed them before sending them home,

·         boldness in confronting the Pharisees,

·         availability to bless the children when they came to him,

We could continue on and find recorded events in Scripture when Jesus is the perfect example of all the character qualities (that would be a great study!)

I recently heard a sermon by a Pastor Davis who taught his congregation on character and at the end of the sermon read the passage of Jesus feeding the 5000. He asked children 12 years old and younger to raise their hands and tell what character qualities they could see from the lives of either Jesus or his disciples in this passage. The kids came up with 13 different character qualities in just this one passage of Scripture. What a great idea for family devotions!!! The first step in teaching your children to be boys and girls of character is to teach them simple definitions for each character quality and a verse from Scripture for each. After they understand what it means, you can then design projects to help them internalize it into their everyday lives.  Kids of Character study and flashcards is a tool we designed to help you do just that with your children. 

2. The second reason to study character is to understand why trials come into our lives. God is using our trials for a purpose- to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. A wise man once said, “Our trials are custom-made” for each of us. When we learn to properly respond to our trials, we get grace from God and develop in our lives more of the positive character quality. When we respond negatively, we see more of the negative character trait grow in our lives.

3. The third reason to teach our kids character is help them get the guidance they need for everyday life.  Prov. 11:3 says the integrity of the upright will guide them. When your child learns to respond with the character of Christ, he will receive the guidance he needs in everyday life. When he chooses to be truthful, more truthfulness will be built into his life. If he chooses not to be truthful, deceptiveness will grow in his life. When we respond to life’s situations with godly character, we will be receptive to God’s will for our lives

4. We should guide our children in studying character so they may experience the blessings of God. Psalm 18:20 says “ The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath He recompensed me.”

When your child learns to choose truthfulness, he will receive the blessings of truthfulness. When he chooses responsibility he will receive the blessings of being responsible, when he chooses joyfulness, others will enjoy being around him, etc.

We'll cover more reasons next week!

~Marilyn