We teach our children the gospel of Jesus Christ so that they will know why the gospel of Jesus Christ is worth living.

Our son’s family has been staying with us and I have to admire what he does with his boys. Every night, before bed, he and his wife gather their children together and read a few key verses from a story in the scriptures. The key I emphasize is they read it from the scriptures; they don’t just tell the story in their own words.

These boys are very young and very wiggly. The verses read are kept short. Afterward, comes the discussion. The boys are asked questions about what was read, and some thoughts are shared by everyone. All of this takes less than 15 minutes.

In this session of conference (Sunday afternoon of April 1983), L. Tom Perry repeats President McKay’s reasoning in why teaching the gospel to our children is so important. “Do you want your families, your children; do you want to be sealed to your fathers and your mothers before you? … If so, then you must begin by teaching at the cradle-side.”

Several talks were about teaching. Boyd K. Packer talked about the influence of Seminary. M. Russell Ballard talked about approved resources for Sunday School. And Elder Perry talked about the responsibility to teach children.

Today, we are refocusing ourselves on home-centered learning. For me, the only important thing about going to church on Sunday is the partaking of the Sacrament, as it always should be anyway. Sunday School and Relief Society have lessened their impact because of the alternating and inconsistent weeks of participation. The real focus must be in the home.

It’s been a few months now since we started this new format. How are we doing? If we understand that consistency is crucial, what sacrifices are we willing to make—even for 15 minutes—to make scriptural gospel teaching part of our homes?

Elder Packer said,

“We are not obedient because we are blind, we are obedient because we can see. … Responsibility for teaching the doctrines rest upon parents. … Spiritual development is tied very closely to a knowledge of the scriptures, where the doctrines are found.”

Wise parents will carve out the necessary time to teach their children from the scriptures.

Quoting J. Reuben Clark, Elder Ballard said,

“Your essential and all but sole duty is to teach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. … You are to teach this Gospel using as our sources and authorities the Standard Works of the Church, and the words of those whom God has called to lead His people in these last days. You are not … to intrude into your work your own peculiar philosophy, no matter what its source or how pleasing or rational it seems to you to be.”

As our world caves into more and more wickedness, the Gospel of Jesus Christ will truly become the standard of light, but only if we wrap our families in it. Only if we read the enlightened words of our Savior. Only if we are consistent in our obedience to teach the next generation. Only if we purposely strengthen our families, gather them tightly to us, and guard them fiercely and diligently. We teach our children so that they will know why the gospel of Jesus Christ is important to us, to them, and to our eternal lives.