The Gospel according to John: Day 1

    Today, my children and I will sit down and look through our catalogue of seeds. We will dream big and take great joy in planning out what we want to grow in our garden this year. We will draw a picture of what we want our garden to look like and how big and beautiful our harvest will be. However, even big dreams start small - just one seed at a time with faithful watering, sun, and lots of waiting.

    As I dream big about the spiritual garden I want to cultivate in the hearts of my children and the harvest I am so eager for them to glean, I also realize I must start small with one truth at a time. Today, we begin simply. We will talk about a few verses from the book of John. John contains 21 chapters all leading the readers to see Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of the world. The first seed of truth I want to plant in my children's hearts comes from the following verses:

   

   John 20:31 "but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name."

   John 21:24-25 "This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written."

    The Bible is God's true Word. Every Word of the Bible is true. God always keeps His promises, and God delights in saving His people. These simple truths which are repeated by my children daily as we open up the Bible is the heart of the book of John. This book is about Jesus: who He is (the Son of God and Savior of the world) and what He has done for us (bringing us life in His name). 

So ... today is simply that. I will spend time talking through the verses with my children about God's Word being true and how It can bring life to them through the name of Jesus. We will memorize John 20:31 and rejoice that we no longer have to mourn because we can have life in His name. This is the first seed. Start small, but by the end, maybe we'll have little hearts bursting full with Truth that will only grow bigger and bigger as they seek to know God more.

***
I will be using one of my favorite resources on this journey: The Literary Study Bible (ESV). My eldest son is named after the men who put this particular study Bible together (so I am biased), but it is a great help in showing me how to read the Bible better as literature and how to teach my children through this particular genre of narrative in John's Gospel. If you do not already own this Bible, I would encourage you to get one. It has connected lots of dots of seeing the bigger picture for me personally.

Day 1: Including some spiritual disciplines

• Reading: John 20:31; 21: 24-25
• Memorize: John 20:31
• Song for the week: In Christ Alone
• Activity: Plant a seed indoors. Water and watch it grow every day to show them what God's Word can do in their lives. 
• Psalm for meditation: Psalm 119:9-16