Recently someone asked me, "You
have three grown children who are all faithful. How did you do it? What made
the difference between your kids and others I know who raised 3-4 kids but not
all are faithful?"
I would have loved to tell her,
"Here is the secret. Do this and you are guaranteed to have faithful
children, who will remain faithful their whole lives." But there is no
secret. There is no guarantee. We all, even our children, have free will, given
by God. Our love and devotion mean nothing to Him if we don't have a choice.
But we do have a choice. We all make choices and we all decide, daily, whether
we will love and serve God or not. Our children have that same choice to
make.
So what makes the difference? I
can't say for sure but I have some ideas that I think helped. Again, they are
no guarantee that your children will remain faithful, but I believe they
increase your chances of successfully raising children who will love God and
serve Him all the days of their lives.
PRAY FOR THEM! I began praying
for my children before I even became pregnant. I prayed while I was pregnant
and I've prayed for them consistently ever since. They are grown (30, 33 and
35) and I still pray for them daily. I prayed for God to help some other mother
somewhere raise godly children so that my children could marry someone who had
the same goals as they had, to serve God daily and to go to heaven. I prayed
for God to wrap his arms around them and protect them from the fiery darts that
Satan would throw at them. I knew that Satan would try to snatch them away and
I prayed that they would be strong and have God's protection. I still pray for
that. Just because they are grown doesn't mean Satan has given up on drawing
them away from God. He's still out there, walking around like a roaring lion,
looking for those he can devour. I Peter 5:8.
USE EVERY MOMENT AS A TEACHABLE
MOMENT. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 4"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the
Lord is one! 5You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your might. 6These words, which I am commanding you
today, shall be on your heart. 7You shall teach them diligently to your sons
and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way
and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8You shall bind them as a sign on
your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9You shall write them
on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Teaching children about
God isn't something you do once a week at Bible Class, or even once a day in a
home Bible study. You have to take every opportunity, and use every situation,
to teach your children about God, about what He has done for us, and about what
He expects of us.
Your child comes home from school
and tells you that their friend's parents are getting a divorce. Use that to
show them what God expects of us, how marriage is a life-time
commitment.
There is a new story about terrorism
in the Middle East. Talk to your children about how God promises to be with us
and care for us. Tell them about how other people don't believe in our God and
His majesty. Show them how Christians should act, being kind to one another,
forgiving, not hating and hurting others.
When your children ask you why Bruce
Jenner is now Caitlin Jenner, you can explain creation to them, how God created
man and woman.
When your kids do something wrong,
show them God loves them and that you love them too much to let them act
wrongly. Show them that correction is love. God does the same thing for
us.
Hebrews 12:5-6 "My son, do not
regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faith when you are reproved by
Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son
whom He receives."
When
there is flooding and people have lost their possessions, teach your children
about trusting God and prayer. Use the opportunity to teach them how to care
for others. Have them donate some of their toys to kids who have lost
everything in flooding or other natural catastrophes.
HAVE A
STRONG FAITH OF YOUR OWN. Kids can tell if you are honest in your faith. They
know if you are "just going through the motions" or if you sincerely
believe and are serving God. Your example can do more to ensure they have a
strong faith of their own than just about anything else you can do.
I really wish I could give you guarantees that your
children will grow up to be strong, faithful Christians, but I just can’t. Remember
that your children, like every other person in the world, has free will and can
choose for themselves how they live their lives. So do what you can to give
them a solid grounding and pray without ceasing that God will help you
teach them to love Him and serve Him all the days of their lives.
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