Part 3: Be Careful Little Hands | FUN Ways to Teach Your Children to Serve God
Be Careful Little Hands
Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger. Job 17:9
I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling. 1 Timothy 2:8
The Bible associates hands with our actions. Lifting holy hands means in a literal way lifting hands that are doing good works, motivated by godly inspirations and intentions. In a spiritual way, it means your works show the goodness of God. Job 17:9 says, "the righteous holds to his way." Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the light.” For me, holding to Christ invokes images of the woman with the issue of blood pushing, reaching, stretching out to touch the hem of Jesus, or Mary at the tomb grasping onto Jesus after his resurrection. As they encountered Jesus, as they touched and held on to Him, they grew stronger in their faith. They were changed. Surely their thoughts were lifted even higher in purpose and desire to serve God and worship Him.
The thought of worship for many includes singing and joint fellowship. While that is true, what can never be missing from our worship is prayer. 1 Timothy 2:8 tells us that in every place we should pray and lift up holy hands (good works inspired by God). That means our prayer should always be accompanied by godly actions. Additionally, there should be unity between those who are praying together. Thus we are given three mandates: be unified, pray and do good works that testify of God.
Have you ever told your child to say sorry and they did but you knew there was no genuine repentance or sorrow behind it? And the person they said sorry to was still upset as well. That is the scenario I am picturing that we should avoid in 1 Timothy 2. The apology must be reflected in the action, which fosters unity. Then prayerful restoration can be obtained between the two squabbling children.
Let’s go back to Job and the thought of growing stronger and stronger. If our little hands are careful as to what we do, always looking for God’s guidance, listening for his voice of instruction, then the relationships with God will grow stronger and stronger. Hallelujah! We can grow stronger in Christ, we will hear His voice more and more and be more confident in our relationship with Him.
How can we teach our children to be careful in their actions? By teaching them to honor, obey and serve God. By being the example. After all their eyes are fixed on you. It is the parents’ job to point to God the Father and God the Son and the moving of the Holy Spirit. It is our job to show them the sacrifice of the GodHead.
So, how do we teach our children to honor, obey and ultimately, to serve God?
Tip 1: Define service. We can start by defining the word "serve." Let the kids offer a few ideas. Then read the dictionary definition. Explain that the word “serve” can mean to offer food, to help, to spend time, to work, to give honor, and to be obedient. Ask: Who do you serve in your life? What do you do to serve others? Check out our Love in Action Bible activity for a list of ideas.
Tip 2: Use your gifts. God has given us all gifts to serve him. Whether it's singing, writing or art we can use our gifts to give God glory. Talk to the children about how they can use their gift to serve God.
Tip 3: Share something. Talk about the idea of donating and how it benefits others. Ask each family member to pick out some thing(s) in good condition they would like to share. This could include gently used toys, clothes, books, or craft supplies. Go as a family to donate these items to an organization that helps others. Discuss how sharing with others is a great way to show demonstrate God's unselfish love.
Tip 4: Serve others. Give the the children ways to engage in service to others. For example, make cards that share a scripture to mail or give away, mow the neighbors lawn, make cookies, call the elderly and read to them over video.
Tip 5: Pray for others. Praying for others seems a simple way of serving God, but it’s such a powerful way! Jesus Himself was often found in prayer even though He’s the Son of God. If He needed prayer, how much more do we need it? Here is a FREE kid's prayer activity to teach children to pray.
Check out the Bible Time Little Book of Prayers for FUN books that will help you teach your children about prayer.
Be sure to visit our FUN SHOP for exciting games and activities!
Check out the other posts and FREE resources in the Oh Be Careful Series:
Part 3: Be Careful Little Hands
Part 5: Be Careful Little Mind
Don't forget to check out our FREE Bible Study Resources and activities. Also be sure to check out our blog series on Making Bible Study Fun, where we share our fun tips for teaching our children about God.
What are your favorite Bible stories? Please share them in the comments below!