It’s a full life being a mom isn’t it sister! Just think of how much time you spend taking care of their physical needs. The constant pressure of the next meal and all the things in-between right.
You do incredible work!
Take a moment, because you should feel good about what you do.
But I do want to encourage you today to think about their spiritual condition. Trust me, I know having a 4-month-old all the way up to an 18-year-old, how quickly they become teenagers.
You know me, I don’t sugar coat the truth, especially when the eternity of children are at stake.
The culture is winning too many kids hearts from Christian homes and it doesn’t have to be this way. I know you agree with me.
I wanted to share a powerful insight with you today on one thing you can do to make God real to your kids.
Are we supposed to have an answer for everything for our kids?
Well, the Bible says in 1 Peter 3:15, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;”
You should share what you know and continuously be learning but some of the most powerful teaching moments you will ever have with your kids are in the moments they ask a question that you don’t know an answer to.
At that moment, your response can go the direction of pride or humility.
The pride route is deeply harmful by pretending to know the answer when you don’t by trying to be the perfect parent.
Please hear me on this, “NO PERFECT PARENTS ALLOWED”.
It’s actually edifying to your children, to instead respond with “I don’t know the answer to that, let’s look it up together”.
Wow, counter-intuitive, but so right on.
At this moment you are cultivating a teachable spirit in your child, exemplifying humility, and equipping them by teaching how to discover answers in the Bible together.
You are forging a path of resourcefulness in your child, which the world requires today. And if you do this from when they are small they will become accustomed to finding answers on their own in the Bible continuously in their life.
“Teach the little ones the whole truth and nothing but the truth; for instruction is the great want of the child’s nature…If there be any doctrine too difficult for a child, it is rather the fault of the teacher’s conception of it than of the child’s power to receive it, provided that the child be really converted to God. They must be well fed or instructed, because they are in danger of having their cravings perversly satisfied with error. Youth is susceptible to evil doctrine, Whether we teach young Christians truth or not, the devil will be sure to teach them error. They will hear of it somehow, even if they are watched by the most careful guardians. The only way to keep chaff out of the child’s little measure is to fill it brimfull with good wheat. Oh, that the Spirit of God may help us to do this!” Charles Spurgeon, Come Ye Children
There’s just too many costs going the other route. How much anxiety and pressure exists in deciding to do something if we have to know all the answers first? How limited do we become teaching spiritual things if we think we always need to prepare first? Now, don’t misunderstand me, we parents should all be studying the Word of God daily and teaching our children daily. My point is that there should be no fear in saying, “I don’t know!” But don’t leave it there. Show them by your example, how exciting learning can be. Teach them how to read a commentary, how to look things up in the concordance, share a good book with them on the topic, or better yet, offer to read it together on a weekly coffee date! How special is that?
The way the generations before raised their children, assuming they would just “be Christian because they were raised Christian” is no longer. It doesn’t suffice to just say, because I said so, or because the Bible says so, when your child asks a deep question. It’s the best way to make your relationship surfacy. Do you want your kids coming to you and asking deep questions even in their adulthood?
God’s word says that we should seek “wise counsel”; and I know you want to be considered wise counsel in your child’s eyes when they are older.
If you lead your family with an air about you that you know everything and that biblical insights or truths are much too lofty for them to understand, you will cultivate a spirit of pride in your children causing harm to their future relationships.
Model this and you will be blown away by how much more joyful and productive you will be in attending to the spiritual condition of your kids on a daily basis.
So remember, prideful parents produce prideful children.
There is a difference between confident and prideful. Don’t plant the wrong variety of fruit in your child. And don’t let the wrong one grow in your heart. It’s like trying to find an herb in a garden of weeds. Sometimes the only way you can tell the difference is by the smell.
We MUST be careful not to cultivate the wrong kind of fruit in our children!
Yes, we want to raise CONFIDENT CHRISTIAN KIDS BUT NOT PRIDEFUL PHARISEES!
We can accidentally plant the wrong variety of the same fruit in the garden of our child’s heart through what WE model. Kids do what they know. Never stop being humble, teachable, and never try to be a parent that comes across as always being right and knowing everything.
This is just one of many points in the new podcast episode: “How To Make God Real To Your Kids”.
If you want the other ways to help your kids experience God on a weekly basis check it out. It’s a quick listen but transformative with tons of practical wisdom.
Make sure you go check it out on our CourageousParenting.com website as we post weekly notes and scripture references every week.
