From yesterday’s sermon:
Earlier I mentioned that you may have not asked the question, “What is my goal in raising kids? What kind of child am I trying to make?” You may have not thought about it (which would be a good indicator that you probably aren’t doing well with this – look, he who aims at nothing hits it every time – which means if you are not intentional about something, you will not accomplish it, including raising godly offspring). But here’s the thing: no matter how you answer that question, whether it’s with silence or a detailed program, you have a goal – it may be unstated or it may be written on every wall in your house – you may have written a song about it or it’s just assumed. But you have a goal for your kids and all anyone has to do is just see what you do with your kids.
Your life tells us what your goal is. What do your conversations with them sound like? What are you teaching them? Where are you hauling them all over God’s earth and what they doing when they get there? When you talk to them what do you talk about? Or forget for a moment your direct interaction with them, when you pray for them, what shapes your prayers? What do you pray about? What are you asking God for when it comes to them? When you think about investing in their future what is the plan? When you worry about them, what worries you the most about them? What keeps you up at night regarding your children? When you talk about your kids with other people, what is the topic of conversation?
Here’s the thing, I would imagine most of you here would agree with me that the goal of childrearing is to raise a disciple of Christ, to raise Jesus-lovers. I can’t imagine anyone saying, “No preacher, I am a follower of Jesus, but my chief goal is not that they follow Jesus, but rather what I want most for my kids is that they would make lots of money … or that they would be famous … or that they would discover the cure for cancer.” I don’t think anyone here would disagree with what I am saying and what the clear teaching of the Bible is on this. But the obvious question is does your life and all that you are doing match the biblical goal?
What is the all-consuming vision for your children that compels you and shapes your plans and desires for your kids? The point is that it needs to be bigger and better than happiness and affluence, wealth and health, nice cars and nice houses and nice education and nice & close to me, … Here’s what I know. We live in a world that compels us to live for the here and now, that compels us to live for temporary things, that exalts athletic prowess, academic achievement, good looks, popularity, financial success, comfortability, convenience, respectability [none of which are necessarily wrong and none of which are wrong to desire for your kids – please hear that], but if we are not careful we lose sight of what we are living for, our vision is easily clouded, and by extension the vision God calls us to have for our kids is co-opted by a less compelling vision; and beloved it is less compelling [winning a Nobel Prize is less compelling than living for Jesus in the backwoods of KY; being a prominent scientist is less compelling than living for Jesus in a place where no one knows your name; being at peace and happy is less compelling than finding peace and joy in Christ].
In reading, I am reminded how much I miss your sermons brother. I know they are on the web, but I just miss sitting in the Church and hearing them first hand. All too often in the Church, we do worry far more about our children’s education and money making potential than we do about their eternal soul. I am not different, though I have heard yours and others words on this topic many times before. God bless!
Thanks for the kind words. It’s frightfully easy to let the world co-op our vision for God and his will. I’m way too inconsistent with this myself. Hot in Dothan yet? Just now getting hot here.