Miss Amy on our children’s team once joked with Pastor Mike about where she had received some lessons she was sharing.  Yeah, that Bible has a lot of good stories in there!  Of course, she was absolutely right, but it did sound funny to state the obvious!  The Bible contains adventure, humor and romance.  Written in both prose and poetry, it is a source of history, wisdom and prophecy.  And most importantly, the Bible is the true word of God.  This weekend we will hand out 60-80 Bibles to 2nd graders in our church.  Maybe your child is one of those.  But no matter the age, you can instill a passion for God’s word in even the youngest children.

Begin reading Bible story books when they're young.  Include them in your shelf of books that your child can explore daily.  For preschoolers, children’s Bibles colorfully illustrate simplified stories about Abraham, Moses, Noah and Jesus.  As your child grows, allow her to read stories from an easy-read Bible to you.  Occasionally read the longer version to your young child from an adult translation.  Keep art supplies available, and encourage your child to illustrate what you’ve read.

Encourage your child to take their Bible to church with them.  Help them develop this habit early.  Once they receive their Bible from our church, their teachers will begin to encourage them as well, and they have access to incentives like God Tags and bookmarks to help them remember each week.
 
Have your child show you the scriptures or stories they discussed in their weekend classes.  Let him read some verses.  Then you read a few.  Stop to discuss the actions of the characters and their relationships to God.  Try to relate them to their own lives and their friends.  Help them see that the Bible is applicable in everyday life.

Teach them to explore and take ownership of their personal Bible.  Give your child a Bible highlighter or a soft pen and show them that they can make notes and underline their favorite passages.  Get them Bible tabs so they can easily find the books of the Bible.  (They can earn free Bible tabs in G-Force if they return their weekly “homework.”)  Show them the concordance, the index, the time tables and the other study helps.  Compare their Bible to yours and tell them why you love your own Bible so much.
 
As your child matures, it is often difficult to keep him reading at all, and the Bible could gather dust.  Then it is time to leave the well-known stories and dig out adventures fascinating to a fifth grade boy such as Ehud sinking his knife completely into the evil king and the fat covering the handle (Judges 3).  If you have a sixth grade girl, don’t miss the story of Esther preparing for an entire year for the ultimate beauty contest (Esther 2).

Finally, in my own family, I have found the absolute best way to teach my children to love their Bible is to love my own.  I purposely do Bible study in front of them and regularly have the Bible around where we can look topics up.  Both my children took to plopping down on the couch or sitting at the kitchen table to read their Bible along side of me.  Bottom line, they see and hear that I value God’s word.  Help your children fall in love with their Bible.  As Miss Amy says, “There’s a lot of good stuff in there!”