Recently, a dear Christian couple asked for suggestions for appropriate Christian recreational activities which they might enjoy together with their children, ages 10 and 11. This is an important issue requiring much parental discernment. Unfortunately today many activities that parents and children used to enjoy together are often available only in morally questionable or physically unsafe public environments.
Yet it is vital that Christian parents enjoy fun and recreation with their children, with the end in view that the hearts of these precious treasures be turned towards and won for the blessed Lord Jesus. The Spirit of God, through Paul the Apostle, teaches us that there is a time when a child is properly occupied with the things which “belonged to the child” (1 Cor. 13:1111When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (1 Corinthians 13:11) JND). The world will always be ready to substitute its “things,” if parents become lax in meeting their children’s natural and right needs for recreational fun and activities.
For many Christian families, living with limited financial resources in larger metropolitan areas where yards and houses are small and conditions are crowded, healthy recreational activities may seem a difficult objective to attain. But while Scripture does not encourage believers to look for improvements in the moral conditions of this world, there never has been and never will be a time when God’s Word cannot give light and counsel for every detail of our lives. (See Psalm 119:105105NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:105).)
“Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of Him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance” (Ezra 8:2121Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. (Ezra 8:21)).
The little remnant of captives desired to return to the place of God’s appointment Jerusalem and the land of God’s promises Israel. How sweet and instructive to notice that they realized that the children were going to need special care, and so they were specifically mentioned in their prayers.
The account of Joseph provides another lovely example of meeting special needs of children. Pharaoh had commanded him, “Take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.... And Joseph gave them wagons... and gave them provision for the way” (Gen. 45:19,2119Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. (Genesis 45:19)
21And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. (Genesis 45:21)).
“Wagons for the little ones”! Ah! How important that parents learn to use the wagons that God has provided for them, as the means of bringing their beloved little ones into the presence of the Lord Jesus where they may be fed and preserved!
Such wagons may be natural or spiritual. Family Bible readings, hymn sings and visiting other believers are some of the spiritual wagons which parents have available for their use. But they also have the wagons of recreation, hobbies and other activities, which are found in nature’s realm.
While these natural activities should never become an “end” in themselves, they do provide a helpful “means” of conveying the “little ones” to Jesus. The “fathers” who led them through the wilderness to Egypt brought those in the wagons to Joseph. In moral application, today it is parents who bear the responsibility of making use of all means provided by the Lord for conveying their “little ones” into His blessed presence.
What then are some examples of children’s activities? In answer, one father said, “Start when they are young. Try biking, blind man’s bluff, hide-and-seek, and going to an inexpensive place to eat with a child. Do things that allow you to share yourself and your time with your children.”
In the realm of nature, parents cannot give anything more precious to their children than themselves and their time.
Another father said, “Though at times our schedule changes, we try to make Saturday evenings ‘games night.’ After supper we get out a game. Our 5-year-old favors ‘UNO.’ For our 13-year-old, games requiring more skill, such as ‘Crokinole’ or ‘Caroms,’ are fun.
“Because we are isolated, some Friday evenings one of the brothers will rent the gym at a school, inviting parents in the assembly to bring their children there for an evening of games and fellowship. At times one of the brothers also has a short talk from the Word of God. This is a good opportunity to build bonds of Christian friendship.”
Another father offered this: “Be a child like them. When he was five, one of my sons and I used to play a flight game on an old computer. In order to play ‘with’ him, I had to become a child in spirit. We both would put on our ‘flight helmets’ he was the pilot and I the navigator. The game was unimportant to me, but the imagination used and the time spent together was priceless.”
The principle is found with Elisha. “He went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm” (2 Kings 4:3434And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. (2 Kings 4:34)). Though not easy, Elisha fully identified with that child where he was.
The last father further added, “If children like their home, they’ll not be looking elsewhere for fun. One day my son, with whom I played the computer flying game, came from school sad. ‘Dad, all my friends at school have a TV at home. They were surprised when I told them we don’t have one.’ I asked him, ‘How many of your friends have a computer game that needs their dad as copilot?’ He smiled, realizing he had something most of his friends at school didn’t have!”
The believers in Corinth had many teachers, but not many fathers. Let’s pray for grace to be more fathers for our children than teachers of them. “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers” (1 Cor. 4:1515For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. (1 Corinthians 4:15)).
In closing, let’s remember that God “heard the voice of the lad [Ishmael] where he [was]” (Gen. 21:1717And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. (Genesis 21:17)) in that harsh wilderness. Should not parents also be very attentive to their children’s needs, where they are, and seek in love to meet them?
Ed.