We’re a busy, busy family, and as a result, sometimes it’s easy for family Bible time to get swept to the side. Perhaps you can relate?
One thing we try to do every night is eat dinner together. And so it struck me recently: Why don’t we do our family Bible time while enjoying a meal together?
This simple change has brought so many blessings to our dinner table! Not to mention that our family Bible time conversations have made our dinner discussions extremely rich.
We keep it very casual. My husband simply pulls out his Bible (or uses the Bible app on his phone) and he reads a passage.
Sometimes we work through a specific chapter or book of the Bible; and other times we pick a set of verses that are appropriate to a specific behavior we’d seen earlier that day (ahem).
As we go along, we give background to the passage or ask our kids questions about what we’re reading.
Family Bible Time Discussion Starters:
- How would you summarize these verses?
- What do you think God is trying to say through these verses?
- What other stories in the Bible (or stories from your life) does this remind you of?
- How can you apply these truths to what’s going on in your life right now?
These questions are similar to what our family refers to as the “Five Rs”—a system we’ve developed for helping them (and us!) to have meaningful independent Bible study times. You can download a free “5 Rs” printable bookmark here if you’d like to incorporate this concept in your family Bible time (or your personal devotions).
I love that family Bible time over dinner makes spiritual conversations incredibly easy. Along with discussion about the passage, I’ve also noticed that our kids ask some awesome questions about God or the Bible during this time. My husband and I want our kids to ask these hard questions and to discover how to find the answers, so we welcome this!
God intends for us to share his truths with others through relationships. What better place to do that than at the family dinner table?
Question:
How would a simple change like having family Bible time during dinner bring new levels of spiritual growth to your family? Have you experimented with this technique before and what were your results?
Share with us in the comments!
I love this idea! My Grandparents always had family devotions at the dinner table at the end of the meal, and it’s a fond memory for me : )
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Yes! What a great memory, and what a great legacy to pass on in your family! Thank you for sharing!