Three Ways to Build Your Child’s Biblical World View

How Shall We Then Live? Francis Schaeffer addressed transformed thinking in his classic film series and book. He traced changing patterns of thought through time and the impact Christianity has had on Western culture.

It’s clear that God expects His people to think differently than the unredeemed populace. Paul states it clearly in Romans 12:1-2.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

But this command leaves us with a question.

How do we change the way that we think?

We live in a post-modern culture that believes truth is fluid. If there is any truth at all, it swishes and sways with the winds of culture. Because of that, the only thing that is real to most people is what they feel. Their feelings tell them to what to think about everything. This explains the insanity we see and hear all around us. It is Satanic and the opposite of what the word of God teaches.

I was speaking with the President of an evangelical Christian College recently. He said that his school seeks to trace the progress of growth in the biblical worldview of students. They work with George Barna to measure their progress (you can get more info about the assessment tool here). Their testing indicates that the professing believers who enter this college as freshmen have a worldview that is almost indistinguishable from the general secular culture. These students claim to be Christians, but they do not think like Christians. They do not see the world around them like Christians should see it. This school works hard to inculcate a biblical worldview in the minds of students who have not learned it from the Christian homes or churches, and they are having good success based upon the tools they use to measure progress.

Based upon their findings, typical evangelicals are failing in discipling their children for Christ. How are our homes and churches failing in teaching biblical worldview to our children who grow up in our churches? Let’s consider a few things.

The Holy Spirit moves in.

Yes, a renewed mind is the work of the Holy Spirit in the mind of a believer, but there is a volitional aspect to transformed thinking that must accompany the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.  If it were not so, Romans 12:1-2 would be unnecessary. We give the Holy Spirit the tools that He uses to transform our thinking.

Sound teaching.

Biblical worldview is preached and taught. When the message from the pulpit degenerates into a slightly religious Ted Talk, not much progress will be made in the lives of the children.

Barna says that a young person’s biblical worldview is usually fully developed by age 13. After that, it usually takes some sort of major life change to alter it. In most churches, children never really hear much from the pulpit in their childhood years—even if the teaching is solid. They are in children’s ministries that focus more on fun and entertainment than teaching and raising children. Parents only get one shot at raising children. It is not enough for children to like church. They might like Disneyland but going to Disneyland once a week does not form their thinking and their faith. The entertainment model of ministry is not just killing our churches; it is sending our children to eternity without God.

Children’s ministries need to teach more than Bible Stories. While this content is good, and many find the stories entertaining, if the truths of these passages are not applied to life, they are just entertainment.

Mentoring and interaction in the church and at home.

The Old Testament book of Proverbs is intended to spark worldview discussions in the home. One of the great privileges of my life was to grow up in a home where we had biblically based family discussions around the dinner table every evening. My mother would lay the Bible on the table beside my father’s dinner plate, and as we finished the last bites of our evening meal, he would pick it up to read. Most often, we read out of Proverbs—and we would talk about what these verses meant. Dad and mom would both talk about how they had learned these same lessons in their lives—sometimes the hard way. I learned how to view my world around the dinner table every evening.

Transformative music.

Consider the words of this song.

Let dogs delight to bark and bite, for God has made them so:

Let bears and lions growl and fight, for ‘tis their nature, too.

But, children, you should never let such angry passions rise:

Your little hands were never made to tear each other’s eyes.

Let love through all your actions run, and all your words be mild:

Live like the blessed Virgin’s Son, that sweet and lovely child.

His soul was gentle as a lamb; and as his stature grew,

He grew in favor both with man, and God his Father, too.

Now, Lord of all, he reigns above; and from his heavenly throne

He sees what children dwell in love, and marks them for his own.

This is a children’s song, penned by Isaac Watts in the early 18^th century. He wrote hundreds of them. How does it compare to the superficial twaddle we call worship music today?

What does music have to do with developing a biblical world view? It has everything to do with it. Music is our meditation. Our minds and hearts overflow with our music. We go to bed hearing it in our heads and wake up with it in the morning with it still there. Music, and the sound doctrine it should communicate, have an enormous power to help us remember and meditate on truth. The emotional nature of music also tells us how we should feel about what we sing. Our music forms our thinking, and our thinking is our worldview.

This is why the book of the Psalms is at the heart of the revelation God has given to us. The Psalms told the Old Testament saint how to think about the world around him. The Psalms not only include praise to God but also demonstrate the proper way to think about the anguish and trials that form all human experience. Do you want to know with whom to keep company? Try Psalm 1. Are you frustrated when you see wicked people prospering—sing Psalm 73. How about when you are running from danger or facing fears of death? Psalm 23.

Using music for edification and growth is also a New Testament concept. Notice the complementary work of the Holy Spirit with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. (Ephesians 5:17-21)

Godless music produces godless thinking. Superficial, emotion-only, theologically anemic music, produces superficial thinking and as a result, superficial Christians.

Christian music is a discipleship tool, not entertainment. Choose music that renews your mind and transforms your thinking.

There is so much more to this, but focusing on solid teaching in the church, mentoring in the home, and quality music for thinking and meditation is a good start. It’s time for Christian homes to be Christian again.

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Audio version of this post: Three Ways to Build Your Child’s Biblical World View