“Jesus? Jesus?”… said our two year old, as she pointed at her toothbrush on the bathroom counter.

For the longest time, she struggled to let us brush her teeth at night. But for the last month, since I started singing “Jesus Loves Me” to her while brushing her teeth, she absolutely loves it, and allows me to brush as long as I’m singing to her (this buys me at least a solid 30 seconds).

It’s the cutest thing, and now she even likes to brush them herself while trying to sing the song. (You can watch a video of her here.)

This reminded me of how simple it can be to incorporate our faith into everyday moments for our kids.

Whether it’s speaking life and truth into them while tucking them in at night, or singing “Jesus Love Me” while brushing their teeth, kids love regular routines.

With a little thought and creativity, we can create spiritual habits that can impact our children’s hearts and minds for life.

Here is a list of easy ways to incorporate your faith into small everyday moments:

• Teach Christian songs to your kids. Pick a Christian song to sing every Sunday on the way to church (or while your kids are brushing their teeth 🙂
• Talk spiritually with your family. Have a brief conversation as a family every week on the way home from church about what each person learned about God that day.
• Pray daily as a family. Before mealtimes and before bedtime are perfect opportunities.
• Memorize a verse of Scripture together as a family each week or month. Post it on your bathroom mirror, or say it every day together before family prayer. Repetition is the key.
• Read or listen to scripture together. You can conveniently do this while you drive or in your house. The YouVersion Bible App makes listening to the Bible as easy as the push of a button.
• Turn screen time into Bible time. Help your kids fall in love with the Bible by watching free Bible stories on the YouVersion Bible App for Kids.
• Create daily traditions around spiritual things. This might look like a posted prayer chart, or a “thank you Jesus” list to add something to daily. Or maybe a picture of a missionary family on your fridge door to pray for every day.

Parents are encouraged in Deuteronomy 6:7 to incorporate their faith into all areas of their family’s lives, “when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

One of your greatest parenting responsibilities is passing down your faith. And one of the simplest ways to do this is to create faith habits that last a lifetime. But that doesn’t happen by accident or by default.

What ways could you more intentionally, or more consistently, incorporate your faith into the everyday moments of your kids’ lives?

Here’s a free resource to help you be intentional this week. The last page includes multiple scriptures you might use for some of the suggestions above.

Andrew Linder is a husband, the father of four awesome kids, and a children’s pastor at a thriving church. He is the founder of GodlyParent.com and is passionate about intentional parenting and helping other parents and leaders effectively reach the next generation. He is also the author of the new book, Godly Parenting In An Ungodly World: How to raise not just good but godly kids through heart-driven grace-based parenting.

Featured Image By Mikhail Nilov from pexels.com