![]() ![]() It is more difficult but far more profitable to look to the heart for it is the heart that is the wellspring of all behavior. It is far too simple to create little legalists, children who adhere to the letter of law, all the while defying the spirit of the law and the One who gives us laws in the first place. The strength of this book, like Shepherding a Child’s Heart before it, and the message I need to hear again and again, is Tripp’s insistence, his constant exhortation, that parents must look beyond behavior and look primarily to the heart. Having done that, he turns his attention to four of these, giving practical pointers on how to get from behavior to the heart, how to apply the sowing and reaping principle of Scripture to corrective discipline, communication with children and the centrality of the gospel. Each of these receives a chapter, or close to a chapter, in which he describes the principle and how it is foundational to building a biblical worldview. He dedicates attention to the heart, the principle of sowing and reaping, God’s plan for authority, the glory of God, wisdom and foolishness, how we are complete in Christ, and the importance of the church. Here, over the course of eight chapters, Tripp describes several essential building blocks of a biblical worldview. It is the second section that is the heart of the book. And in the third section he focuses on applying formative instruction in very practical ways. In the second section he zeros in on the more specific topics that form the true substance of formative instruction. In the first Tripp introduces the reader to formative instruction, looking at the concept through a wide lens. Sponsor Show Your Support Become a Patron The goal of this formative instruction is, in accordance with Deuteronomy 6, “so that we and our children and our grandchildren may fair the Lord and walk in his ways, enjoying a long life.” We help our children construct a worldview that allows them to properly see God for who he is and to properly see them as His creation. We form them through the daily discipline of family worship and through spending time deliberately together, but also through reacting properly to the situations life brings unexpectedly. We form our children by interpreting life for them and responding to its challenges in biblical ways. It provides a way of interpreting life through the redemptive story of God, who reconciles people to himself.” Formative instruction is instruction that comes before problems arise and in that way is different from corrective discipline which follows problems. It shows our children the glory and dignity of mankind as God’s image bearers. It provides a culture for our children, a culture that is distinctly Christian. Tripp describes it most simply as “teaching that ‘forms’ our children.” It is teaching that “enables them to root life in God’s revelation in the Bible. Instructing a Child’s Heart is a book that focuses on “formative instruction,” a term that begs further definition. Thirteen years is a long time by any measure! It was no lost on me that many of the book’s lessons and anecdotes now focus on the author’s grandchildren. It was thirteen years ago that Tedd Tripp published his last book. It was thirteen years ago that its predecessor, Shepherding a Child’s Heart, was published. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.Instructing a Child’s Heart has been a long time coming. Impress truth on the hearts of your children, not to control or manage them, but to point them to the greatest joy and happiness that they can experience delighting in God and the goodness of his ways. The instruction that you provide for them not only informs their mind it is directed to persuading their hearts of the wisdom and truthfulness of God's ways. ![]() Instructing a Child's Heart is essential to Shepherding a Child's Heart. From interaction with their peers to the instruction and correction that they receive at home, children interpret their experience from a worldview that seeks to answer their fundamental questions: Who am I? What do I exist for? Where can I find joy? We need to provide our children with a consistent, persuasive, biblical framework for understanding the world God has made and their place in it. ![]()
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