Watch and Learn
I’m not sure how you learn best. Maybe you hear something and memorize it right away. Maybe you’re more of a doer, needing to see and practice a new skill to acquire it. It could be that you learn through watching someone perform a new skill. The phrase “watch and learn” is a common one that has been used for ages.
It is common in our society to watch and learn new skills. If I wonder how to clean a certain stain, I can do a quick Google search to find a video. If I want to learn a certain dance, I can search the name and copy the dancer. Learning from a video can be a great tool when used appropriately, and it can be a game changer (for worse) if someone finds something to watch and learn that’s not appropriate or not a good example of the new skill.
Children, even from infancy, watch and learn. They move their lips to mimic our mouths when we talk. Then they begin to say small words they’ve heard us say. Eventually, our children may even copy the phrases we use.
Since it’s so common to watch and learn, we can use this to help our children grow in faith. By attending church and small groups, reading our Bibles, listening to Christian songs, and practicing Christian principles in everyday life, our children will likely begin to emulate this appropriate behavior and learn how to follow Jesus by watching us.
James 1:22-25 (ESV) says: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
So, when you read Scripture, try to find something to put into practice. Don’t just read it, do it. When you hear a sermon or attend a Bible study, consider how you might apply what you learned in real life.
And when you fail (which you will), accept God’s forgiveness and change your behavior. In this way, you are modeling how disciples of Jesus respond when they have done something wrong. You might say aloud, “I shouldn’t have said that. It was mean. I’m thankful that God forgives my sins and lets me start fresh again when I fail.”
As you become more aware of your own actions, doing your best to follow Jesus well, your children will have a real-life example of what a disciple says and does. By doing this, you set an example for your children of how to follow Jesus. You show them that you watch and learn from Jesus, and hopefully they will then watch and learn from you.
