Parents are imperfect humans, on their own journey of finding the Father God. Parents make mistakes. Big ones, sometimes. Big, as in affecting generations! Think of King David. Here is a father who made some gigantic mistakes.
No matter – we are still charged with raising children well, regardless of how inept we may be.
That’s because God is bigger than our parenting. We wouldn’t need Him if we could do it on our own. We need Jesus. Our kids need Jesus.
As parents, we want to give our kids the best. We want them to go farther than we did, conquer uncharted territory and claim new victories. We want them to experience the best in life. We want them to know the Father. We want them to be God-fearing individuals who possess the gates of the enemies. We want them to be world-changers! (dream big for your kids!)
However, even if we parent better than King David did, there is still no guarantee that our kids will ‘turn out right’.
God is the perfect Heavenly Father; and even He has lost children.
Unlike the rest of nature, humanity was created with free choice.
God honors this free will of man. It has been established from the beginning. Choice.
And this is why we have no guarantee that our children will follow King Jesus. They have free will, just like us.
King Saul had enormous potential; he started out great but lost in the end because of selfish choices.
Think of Solomon, King David’s son. This young man had every advantage one can imagine – his dad was even ‘a man after God’s own heart’! But Solomon walked away from the God that his daddy knew. And Solomon had even spoken with God! He knew God’s way. He knew right from wrong. He still chose wrong.
Judas Iscariot was chosen as one of Jesus’ intimate friends. Judas walked and talked with Jesus for three years. He knew who Jesus was. Even so, Judas refused to choose the Way, the Truth, the Light.
God is the perfect Heavenly Father; and even He has lost children.
So as parents, let us not become discouraged, shamed or lose faith when our children make less than godly choices.
They have a good Father who pursues His children. And they are His children, just as much as they are ours.
Faith might sometimes look like letting your kids go.
Faith digs deeper and holds fast to who God is. Who God is for me. And who God is for my child.
Faith is continuing to relentlessly teach the decrees and statues of God to our children. Every day. All the time. (Deuteronomy 6:1-9, as stated in last week’s post.)
Faith is letting go of what I cannot control, while holding fast to who God is.
Let your kids go.
Teach them the way of God.
Introduce them to the Father.
But don’t explode or implode when they chose self.
God is also pursing the hearts of our children.
Humanity is created with free will. There is no guarantee that our children will choose King Jesus.
However, this should not deter us from loving, pursing and teaching this King Jesus. Nothing matters more than that we must:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind… and love your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 22:36-40
Ryan Coatney on the podcast Raising Cross Formed Kids states it so well:
“Raising Christian kids is always a miracle but it’s never an accident.”