Teach the Word Diligently to Your Children

As we started to receive the missionary lessons, one of the first things taught by the full-time missionaries to Sister Martinez and me was that families can be together forever. This was a mystery of God for us then, but we could feel the need to help raise the next generation to learn for themselves to love God. When Nuria and I met, fell in love, and married, even without knowing that truth, we had the desire to accomplish that commandment from God.

We read in the gospel of Matthew, “But Jesus said, Suffer [Allow or permit] little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”¹ We must enable our children to seek and come unto our Lord Jesus Christ. To “forbid them not” is an additional invitation for us not to oppose them, whether by word or example, when they do so. Elder Neil L. Andersen has said, “In this increasing spiritual commotion, the restored gospel will continue to carry the standard, the ideal, the pattern of the Lord.”²

The Savior also said in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”³

The commandment to teach our children is not limited by time or by the type of event in which we are engaged as a family. It is something that we can do mostly by our good example, and also in our conversations, home evenings, family scripture study, and at all times and in all places. Thus, it is done mostly in our homes (home-centered).

The commandment to teach the children preceded the blessings that would come to Israel after they entered their promised land. Thus, diligent gospel teaching to the children would provide them with not just the promised land, but with great and good cities, houses full of all good things, wells which they themselves had not dug, and vineyards and olive trees, which would support them well (see Deuteronomy 6:10–11). The blessings were not only temporal but also relate mostly to spiritual things. We come to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as we learn and apply Their teachings in our lives: how to love all of Heavenly Father’s children, how to have peace in this world, how to develop Christlike attributes, how to serve others, how to remain in the covenant path, and how to grow to be eternal families.

Obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ’s commandments always brings true joy. Teaching His restored gospel to children is a source of such joy. Great joy is also experienced when our own children teach their children the restored gospel, hopefully in even better ways. The result is multigenerational families, with each succeeding generation stronger in the gospel than the preceding one. That is how we gather Israel within our families.

Many years ago, when our children were small, we attended a local fair as a family. We had great fun on the rides and enjoyed the food and music. When it was time to return home, I noticed that I had lost the car and house keys. The place was large and full of people. How were we going to find those keys? Our strategy was to go to a secluded spot in the fairgrounds and have a family prayer. Then we went out to search for the keys.

The first thing we saw was a policeman on duty. We approached him, told him of our predicament, and then asked if a bundle of keys had been handed to him. He immediately asked us one question: “Are you members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?” After the initial shock caused by his question, I answered “Yes.”

He then handed me the keys and explained to us how he knew that we indeed were members of His Church. He told us that his father had been a branch president who also carried among his keys a small vial of consecrated oil, like the one I had on my keyring.

A few weeks later, our two youngest children got lost in a large department store where we had gone to get new eyeglasses for the older children. After waiting a while, they got bored and decided to go off on their own, looking for the toy section. The consequence was that they got separated from us.

What did they do when they realized that they were lost? They went to a secluded spot in the store and offered a faithful prayer that they would be reunited with us. Then they stepped out of that spot, with great faith that they would be found. At that same time, their older brother saw them as he was looking for them in that area.

Consider all that is learned from these two interrelated stories of faith. It is in the daily practice of the gospel that we mostly teach, and that children learn the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It happens as we seek to diligently keep His commandments and covenants.