Hey there, Friend!
Quick question for you today:
If you were a swim coach, told that you had four weeks to teach a class of newbies how to survive being thrown in the deep end of the pool, what would you do?
You would design a strategic plan to teach those people the essential skills they would need to pass the test! You would review the plan daily, making sure you covered and carefully taught all that they needed to know!
All along, you would know you had a time limit to complete your task, so you wouldn’t waste class time on showing them the best way to spread out their towels, or how to match their swim cap to their bathing suit. You would get them in the pool and get cracking on the important things!
So in the arena of parenting, what is your deepest hoped-for outcome in parenting your kids?
What, in your mind, is equal to the deep end of the pool?
- Being a good and kind person?
- Is it getting (and keeping) a successful job?
- Paying for their own college degree, car, or mortgage?
- Marrying someone who loves them?
- Finally learning how to do their own laundry and cooking?
What is it that you would consider to be your benchmark goal of “success” in parenting?
Does it have anything to do with knowing, loving, and pursuing God?
If you have any children, you have been given the calling of parenthood. This means that far beyond just ensuring they survive to adulthood, you are also called to be someone who speaks into their lives with intention and purpose, teaching them diligently how to follow God and obey His Word.
Sounds like “Preacher” is part of the job description that falls under “Parent”… doesn’t it?
We have been given the task of influencing, directing, wisely counseling, and deliberately discipling our children, whether we have one or twenty-one of the punks.
“Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it,” Scripture says (Proverbs 22:6, NLT).
“We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD, about his power and his mighty wonders,” Psalm 78:4 (NLT) declares.
The protégé of the Apostle Paul, Timothy, was reminded: “You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus,” (2 Timothy 3:15, NLT). That is the essential aim of parenting as a believer – that our children would whole-heartedly trust in Christ Jesus and receive His salvation. Beyond this, all else is secondary.
Do we live like this is true? Do we parent like our to-do list each day includes: “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.…”? (Deuteronomy 6:5-7)
Like the hypothetical swim coach, we have been given a time limit for achieving our goals for our children, whatever they may be. Our children will not be at home with us indefinitely.
So are we shaping our time with our littles in a way that demonstrates our commitment to our goal of teaching them diligently? Are we speaking about the commands and righteous living outlined in the Scriptures as passionately and frequently as the passage above directs?
We are called to be preachers of God’s word in our own homes, not only to our children but to our own hearts as well. “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength,” the Scripture states, as a directly personal command.
The truth of God’s Word is to be upon our own hearts – or else how can we presume to pour it out into the hearts of our children?
The way to gain our children’s respect in teaching them this love for God is if we are first modeling it ourselves in integrity and truth. This means daily intentional pursuit and committed, persistent choices to turn our hearts and thoughts to Him.
Let’s decide to deliberately plan out and actively teach what our children will need in order to effectively pursue and love God on their own – letting our parenting goals be shaped by the truth of His Word, not our world.
Let’s decide to seek Him fiercely and fervently for ourselves and our own often- feeble hearts. He gives strength to the weary, and increases the power of the weak (Isaiah 40:29), and He also generously gives wisdom to those who ask for it (James 1:5). Jesus Himself prayed for us, that we would have the same love for God that God had for Jesus (John 17:25), so we can have no fear of repeating such an audacious request to Him. (I do, often!)
Let’s choose today to be the intentional, faithful, and sincere preachers of the Word to our children that we have been called and chosen to be.
Go get ’em, Mama. Your congregation awaits.