9 Most Important Christian Values to Teach Kids – Backed By the Bible

Every parent hopes their child grows up and becomes the best version of themself that they can be. But the truth is, how we raise our children will determine their quality of life and the person they will become. A great way to help our children get started on the right path is to focus on the best Christian values to teach children. 

While they are many different denominations of Christianity, anyone who reads the Bible will agree that these values are essential to living a Christ-centered life. There are so many different values to teach, but this Christian values list is a great place to start for Christian families looking to build their family relationship with God. Each core Christian value in this article is backed by the word of God in the old and New Testament and includes bible verses and scriptures to show examples.

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What Are Values?

Our values are a list of principles that we think are important to follow in our everyday life. If you think about the word “value,” you think of worth, and something valuable is worth a lot, whether that’s a lot of money, time, effort, etc. 

Your values are what is important to you, your family, and your faith. They might differ from other people’s values, and that’s okay. The goal is to live your life in alignment with your values, which is how you experience joy. 

These values are specifically ones that God himself and our Savior Jesus Christ have said are essential to living a joyful life. We can show that we love God and have a desire to follow his commandments by prioritizing these values in our daily lives.

4 Tips for Teaching Values to Children

1. Lead By Example

Children learn a lot more from watching us than from listening to us. We can talk until we’re blue in the face, but they will always understand what we are trying to teach better if we demonstrate. 

2. Use Examples

It will be much more effective if you use real-life examples that apply to them and are easy to remember. You can also give examples from people they admire; friends, family, or even characters from their favorite shows or books.

3. Let Kids Choose Their Values

There are some values you will want to teach as early as possible, but you can also help them choose their own values. For example, say they enjoy being outdoors. You can teach them about valuing our planet by taking care of it. 

4. Bring Values Up Often

Talk about values often. Use examples of their behavior. If they are being kind to their sibling, tell them how great that is and explain that kindness is an important value. If they are being unkind, explain that they’re not valuing kindness and address how much happier they would be if they were being kind. 

9 Christian Values Everyone Needs to Instill In Our Children

1. Gratitude

Gratitude changes everything. It determines your joy in life. If you can always find something to be grateful for, you will always be able to find joy. 

It seems that gratitude isn’t as present in the world today as it used to be, which probably has a lot to do with technological developments, social media, and celebrities/influencers.

Always wanting something different is exhausting. Because there is always something bigger and better than what we have, we want to upgrade, whatever it may be! A car, a cell phone, a house, etc. Being grateful for what we have is freeing! Instead of focusing on what we don’t have, we can enjoy what we already have and live our lives now.

This lack of gratitude doesn’t just go for material items. Social media has caused so many problems for our relationships as well. Because everyone only shares the good things about their partner, it seems they have a perfect relationship, which makes others feel that theirs is lacking or that they are with the wrong person. But there is no such thing as a perfect relationship! The same principle applies to parenting as well. You’re not a bad parent, and you don’t have a bad child if your kids aren’t as well behaved as your friend’s kids SEEM to be on social media. 

The same principle applies to self-esteem. Looking at people who seem attractive, happy, healthy, and everything we want to be is dangerous to our mental health. Most people only show the good! They aren’t going to share their insecurities, and they aren’t going to share their doubts and struggles. Don’t compare your worst to their “best.” 

Lack of gratitude leads to coveting.

From a very young age, we must teach our children what it means to be grateful. Because this can be difficult to express in words, we must demonstrate it through our actions. 

Bible Verse About Gratitude

“Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind.” – Psalm 107:21

2. Integrity

The simplest way to explain integrity to children is “doing the right thing when no one is watching.” Don’t do something simply to gain praise or reward, do it because you know that it’s the right thing to do in your heart. 

Teaching this can be as complicated or straightforward as you would like, meaning you can make it age-appropriate and teach it from the beginning with your children. 

If you drop your trash on the ground, pick it up even if there’s no one around. Pay for someone’s meal without them knowing it was you. There are so many little ways to do good in the world, like these 16 simple things Christians can do each day to be more Christ-like.

Bible Verse About Integrity

“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys  them.” – Proverbs 11:3

3. Modesty

Being modest used to be the norm, and immodesty was less common. Nowadays, it seems to be the opposite. Media has a significant influence on this, as well as how people treat one another. 

For example, it can be confusing when a girl who dresses and acts modestly gets less attention from other people their age than the girls who dress and act immodestly. 

For our daughters, we need to teach them that modesty is beautiful. It will help you find a partner that genuinely cares about you for you, not for how your body looks. 

For our sons, we need to teach them that it’s important not to objectify women. Modesty is attractive. A good partner is someone you connect with on an emotional and spiritual level, not just on a physical level. 

Bible Verse About Modesty

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” – 1Corinthians 6:19-20

4. Kindness

Kindness cures everything. Nothing feels greater than when someone is kind to you, and nothing gives you more purpose than being kind to others. If everyone prioritized teaching their children to be kind, can you imagine what the world would be like in the next couple of decades? 

Being kind doesn’t just apply to other people. It includes showing kindness to the animals, the planet, etc. Kindness isn’t just something you try to show whenever you remember. It’s a natural, subconscious characteristic that we should all strive to possess. 

Bible Verse About Kindness

“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great.” – Luke 6:35 ESV

5. Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a powerful quality to possess for many reasons. We are expected to forgive one another because Heavenly forgives us, despite all of the many sins that we have committed. So it is only right that we can forgive each other as well. 

But the most amazing thing about forgiveness is something a lot of people don’t realize. Forgiveness is for you, not the person you are forgiving! Having your mind filled with hate, resentment, or sorrow, takes a toll on YOU. It’s not affecting the person who wronged you. So if you can let go of those negative feelings, it will free you. You won’t have them weighing heavily on your heart. So even if you don’t want to forgive someone, do it for you – not for them! 

Bible Verse About Forgiveness

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” – Ephesians 4:32

6. Resilience & Endurance

Resilience and endurance go hand in hand. Endurance is to keep pressing forward through whatever trials come your way. Resilience is the ability to recover and bounce back from trials and hardships. 

The best way to practice resilience is to know that God is on your side, no matter what happens. He has a plan, and whatever you go through will benefit you in the end. 

The best way to show endurance is never to give up hope. Keep faith in God and keep doing your best to be the best you can be, even when you just want to give up. 

Bible Verse About Resilience

“The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.” – Job 17:9

Bible Verse About Endurance

“You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”  – Matthew 10:22

7. Faith

An easy way of explaining to children what it means to have faith is to believe in something even when you can’t see or prove it. Faith in God is enough to get us through the hardest of times, giving us hope when nothing can. 

It’s so important that we teach our children not only to believe in God but to trust in Him always. Knowing that whatever happens in our life is a part of His plan for us is reassuring. Even the hardest of days happen to teach us something. He loves us like we love our own children, and He teaches us like we teach our own children. He only has our best interest at heart. When your kids learn and experience His love, they can build their own testimony in faith in God. 

When you are in need of some encouragement, read these Bible verses to help with anxiety.

Bible Verse About Faith

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10

8. Humility

Humility and pride are a little bit more challenging to explain to young children. To have humility and be humble is to be willing to be vulnerable and admit your mistakes. It means knowing that you’re not perfect and won’t be the best at everything you do. 

Humility involves being willing to be taught because you admit that you don’t know everything. To be humble is to trust in God’s word more than your own knowledge and opinions. 

The best way to explain humility to children is by giving them examples. Here are a few examples you can give them:

• Congratulating someone else on something they’ve achieved
• Letting someone else go first at something you are excited for
• Apologizing when you’ve done something wrong

Bible Verse About Humility

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” – Proverbs 11:2

9. Being Close to God

Doing what you can to feel close to God is essential for a joyful life, and it’s so important that we teach this to our children early on. Being close to God is feeling like you’re never alone and being able to know that someone loves you more than you could ever imagine. 

A few ways to help your children feel close to God are:

• Prayer – talking to God
• Reading Gods word 
• Listening to uplifting spiritual content – faith-based movies, music, podcasts, church talks, etc. 
• Going to church services or activities
• Making friends with similar values and interests

Bible Verse About Being Close to God

“And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” – Hebrews 11:6

What do you think of these Christian values? Do you teach these in your home?

We would love to hear how you teach Christian values to your children. Also, we would really appreciate it if you could share this article on Facebook, Pinterest, or anywhere you can think of!