Whenever we ask ourselves what kind of life we want for our kids, our first and most vehement response should be eternal.
It never ceases to amaze me the lengths we will go to in order to ensure our children’s worldly success and/or happiness. Whether it be giving in on entertainment we know to be inappropriate, or running to and fro to get them to this practice or that. But how much time of those same days is spent watching entertainment that teaches about and glorifies God? How much time is spent going to help the less fortunate, studying God’s word, and gathering with God’s people?
We have all become products of what the world has taught us…..that success on its terms is what matters most. Following Christ is not about simple pietism, going to church on the right days, or serving in the right areas to look good. It’s about living out Christ’s commands. It is about teaching your children that all of life is captive to the one with authority in heaven and earth. Teaching them when you walk in the way when you lie down when you stand up. They should hear about the God who underlies mathematics, science, and language, and not once or twice a week from a paid ministry worker or a volunteer doing the best they can. They should hear it from their parents, they should hear it from the math teacher, the Spanish teacher, the biology teacher, the principal, and just about any adult present in their life.
When they don’t, they are being taught that God is peripheral in their lives. He is optional, an entity that can be chosen and rejected whenever they like. They are being taught to snub the very one who will sit on a throne and judge them at the end of time.
So, when asked what your greatest desire for your children is, our response should be that they reside with us in eternity. And then we should go out and live like we mean it.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children 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. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Militant Ministry 