A Guest Post from: Rebecca Brandt

Rebecca is a homeschool Mom?who turned in her combat boots, point shoes and high heels for slippers and tennis shoes. You can find her at Mom?s Mustard Seeds?or running around the yard or woods giggling with the amazing children God has blessed her with?or you might just find her smooching her hubby!

7 Tools Book Club

Teach Your Children a Biblical Worldview

I grew up in a one-parent home. For a long time, I felt sorry for myself because of that. I was mad because my parents divorced, my brother died and I spent a majority of my childhood either alone in a locked home (yes, I was at the beginning of the latch-key generation), in the back room of a salon waiting for my Mother to get off of work, or when I was old enough…working two jobs.

I surrounded myself with friends who lived in a similar situation. All of our parents were divorced….and we even formed a club and had a counselor meet with us in highschool. It was a way to feel loved.

We had the love of our Moms and Dads and we had each other. What we did not have…was a family unit or a Biblical Worldview. Did you catch that term – a Biblical Worldview? Do you know what it is and what it means?

Worldview

Well, let’s start with a worldview. To put it simply, it’s the way we look at the world. Everyone has a worldview – everyone views the world in a way that is indicative of the beliefs that surround them in their home.

In Zan’s book, 7 Tools for Cultivating Your Child’s Potential, she states: “Christians must educate themselves on what a biblical worldview is and why it’s important. As Christian parents, we must commit ourselves to understanding worldview issues for our children’s sake. If we choose to remain ignorant, our children’s faith will suffer.”

This is the front cover of my Grandmother’s Bible – given to me by my Mother

Biblical Worldview

What is a Biblical Worldview? A Biblical Worldview is looking at the world from the perspective of the Bible – that all things were created by God for His glory and each and every person has a purpose for which they are born – again, for HIS glory.

“A biblical worldview, …… serves as a compass for our children, giving them a point of reference that is steady and reliable. With this landmark they can find their way in this world and stay the course….. Worldview is not something we learn about so we can take pride in what we know. Neither is worldview static and stale. A Christian worldview is empowering and ennobling because God and His Word are at the center of it.” (paraphrase pg 107 of 7 Tools)

Zan quotes Dr. J. Budzisewski (professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas) early in the chapter: “We Christians are now outnumbered by people who do not share our presuppositions, and for the first time in American history, the Word of God is unwelcome out of church. This is a new situation for Christianity in our country. We have never known a civic rhetoric that was not based on the Bible.The Scriptures were the foundation of American public speech from the colonies onward, not only among believers, but even among non believers.”

I see this all around me today. More and more, Christians are not sharing the gospel, the full gospel because they fear the reprisal of others who do not believe in God – more than they fear God.

What do we do?

WE must embrace the words of Deuteronomy 11:19: “You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise”

As parents, it is our job to disciple our children, to share the Word of God with them…this is our responsibility. We are not told to send them off somewhere to let someone else teach them…we are to teach them.

To me, this not only helps the child grow in Christ and God’s Word, but also the parent. As we teach, we grow, as we grow, we can impart wisdom and we can help our children as they face the struggles of this world that could take them off of the path.

Obstacles to Developing a Christian Worldview

“A strong biblical worldview constantly seeks to integrate all areas of life under the direction and the power of the Word of God. Some of hte main obstacles that can stifle worldview growth and development in us and our children have to do with separating things that were never meant to be separated.” (7 Tools pg 109)

Zan identifies 3 Obstacles to developing a Christian Worldview:

The Separation of Sacred and Secular

We must stop compartmentalizing our lives – and thinking that as long as we go to church on Sunday, it’s all good. We are created for the glory of God and we must begin looking at the world and understanding it and what we do every moment based on that. He desires a relationship with us and that relationship can not just consist of a little prayer here and there and Sunday morning worship, it must be integrated into every.single.aspect of our lives.

“Many children lose interest in Christianity because they do not understand its implications for their daily lives. As parents, we must continually demonstrate to our children that Christianity is relevant to all of life and that God is intimately interested in every aspect of their lives -including their hobbies and career interests, their work and their play, their strengths and their weaknesses. If we fail to do that, our children will be among those clamoring to run out of the church door when they come of age……. We must present this view of workd and the world to our children – this view that refuses to separate the sacred from the secular….” (pg 112)

The Separation of Church and Society

The world wants to take God out of everything….and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union are working hard to do that….wipe God out of everything, including the Pledge of Allegiance! We, as parents must make sure that our children do not forget God, teach them the truth about our American History and our Founding documents and prepare them for a future of fighting to keep God and His world in our society

The Separation of Christianity and the Mind

Michael Weisskopf made a declaration that evangelicals are “largely poor, uneducated and easy to command.”

Do you believe that? I mean, do you speak up when you know the truth, or are you afraid to…because this is the thought process that is resonating across our country? Or, are you equipping yourself and your children with a Biblical Worldview that places God at the center, but does not walk away from gaining a good education?

Here’s a little fact that Zan shares in 7 Tools that I just love…. Harvard’s “Rules and Precepts, ” from the year 1546 included this statement:

Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3) and therefore lay Christ at the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.

How Do You Teach a Biblical Worldview

Many Americans today do not have or even understand a Biblical Worldview. I did not know that I did not have one. Yes, I read my Bible and yes, I am learning more and more about God’s Word, his truth, grace and mercy… Bt, how di I impart a worldview to my children that I never learned.

The best way is with tools that have been created. Here are a couple of recommendations listed in Zan’s Book: 7 Tools For Cultivating Your Child’s Potential.

How are you Helping Your Child(ren) grow a Biblical Worldview?

A Guest Post from: Rebecca Brandt

It’s a beautiful story we (girls) grow up watching… Cinderella, Snow White… well, ok, not completely beautiful – they have horrible lives, but then, Prince Charming comes along and sweeps them off of their feet and they live ‘happily ever after.’

or so the story ends.

Then, there’s real life. Some of us grow up in homes with Moms and Dads who have wonderful marriages, some grow up with parents whose marriages are far from wonderful… and then, some grow up with divorce or death.

We learn from those life-lessons… and we take them into our own marriages… with the expectation that regardless of how we grew up: Prince Charming has arrived and will bless us with an easy, wonderful, beautiful life!

Then… .reality sets in.

Two people have married… two individuals…

and we sometimes, many times fail to read the fine writing:

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery–but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” Ephesians 5:33

Do you see it? The fine writing… the two become ONE… the husband MUST LOVE and the wife MUST RESPECT. When we marry… we are no longer… just us, just a person, we are actually another person… we are our spouse and they are us. And we must do these things the other NEEDS in a marriage, the thing that lifts them up… the thing that is most against our nature of who we are.

Yes, Husbands… LOVE… and want to be loved, but… they would truly prefer RESPECT… and wives, well, we get all gushy when we just know he loves us… well, since he prefers respect… he is told to LOVE us… that thing which we desire.

So, how do we get there? And what in the world does this have to do with the E – in HEART? Enriching our marriage? WHAT IS THAT?

Well, to put it simply, it’s those things, little and big that you do… to grow your marriage, but get this… not for YOU… not so you get what you want out of it! It’s for GOD… you’re growing your marriage for God, who created marriage… so that we could glorify him and his love for us… right here on Earth!

OK… if you’re like me, you’re wondering how this person who is writing has any right to write anything at all about marriage… I mean… I love going to conferences, but isn’t it easier when we know a little about the person speaking… Ok… here’s a laundry list of credentials: I’ve lived through… two marriages, one divorce, the loss of a babe we never held, addiction, adultery, life-impacting medical diagnosis, infertility, bed rest, depression, post partum depression, death in the family, three children, and a host of other events… that have well, shaped us, our lives… but, did one beautiful thing…

They brought me and my husband to the cross.

If I leave you with anything today… tomorrow or next year, there are TWO things I have found that are the truly most important things you can do for your marriage.

ONE: TRULY build the foundation of your marriage on God – get in his word TOGETHER! Read what it says about marriage, about your spouse, and about God… because if you don’t… it will remain about YOU… and that’s not what marriage or God… are about. Yes, he loves us individually, but what better place to begin your love ministry for Christ than with your spouse… with you as Christ, dying to your own selfish desires daily and serving that person… in a way that you always ‘imagined’ they would serve you!

TWO: Pray together. There is nothing more beautiful, more intimate than going before God… together, as one… with EVERYTHING. With your happy moments, sad moments, heart hurts, sins… confessions, oh, it is a beautiful place to sit at the Father’s feet… with your spouses hands touching yours… revealing your heart…

Now? for the lighter stuff… we enjoy reading in the morning… we will read our scripture, pray, drink a cup of coffee… then – we grab another cup of coffee, take the dog for a walk… and return to a home with children still asleep.

I send love notes in lunches, sweet emails through the day and sometimes pop in for a quick hug. We go out… every now and then, our current budget doesn’t allow for many outings… .but, the ones we take are simple… they keep me from stressing out and while we enjoy being out together, the minutes and days with our children are limited… and we’re selfish with that time, as well.

Serve together, read together… and have fun. Also, wives, do things your husbands enjoy doing… even if you don’t. I have a confession… I grew up pretty much alone and never played board games… I don’t care much for them, or the competition, my husband… LOVES them. So, I sit down and play… and usually have a good time… just they’re just NOT my forte. He knows that…

And? Rachael makes a really good point in her book? make sure you have fun together? around and in front of your children. I love it when my husband kisses me on the cheek?.sometimes, I?ll do what I did the first time he kissed me?I run away giggling?and he?ll run after/chase me. We make sure the chase ends in front of our children with a big dip and a kiss. They always say ?GROOOSSSS?? but, the smiles on their faces? well, they tell a different story. They show the sheer delight our children have when they see Mom and Dad giggling, having fun and sharing their love.

Celebrate your anniversary. In our case, we celebrate two, the first and the second. Both hold special places in our hearts and the beauty of that has taken the pain of the divorce away.

Now, I know… we are an odd couple… and many of you have very different situations. All of us are different individuals and our marriages are different, but, if you build your marriage on the foundation of God and HIS word… if you pray… then, miracles can happen… if they are within God’s WILL!

Remember? your children are watching you. They will treat their spouse and their marriage, in much of the same way you do. Give them the beauty of a marriage, based on God full of love, fun grace and mercy!