Our custom of taking the Bible a verse at a time means that we often miss this pattern. We think there’s doctrine (stuff about what God does for us in Jesus) and instruction (what we must do for God). We fail to see how they’re connected. We ought to teach them together. We should teach the good news with an urgency and expectation that its payoff is good behavior, or else our doctrine will be served cold. And we must teach good behavior only when we show it flowing from the good news, or else kids will choke on moralism.
