Remember when she cut her first 2 teeth? Or when they first tried to walk? That smile from the car seat in your rear view mirror? (yes I am dating myself because now you can’t see them if you do it right) For me, it’s about snuggling on my recliner. Or the first time they curl their hair. Those curls that frame that angels face. Sweet memories. But then like some bad TV movie, it fast forwards so quickly. They start school. They start middle school. They start high school. And I know things come after that, but that is as far as I have gotten so far. The issue at hand is enough in itself. But wait there is more. In the middle of this soup; there is another issue. You see somewhere in this your child wants to grow up. At first, and then sporadically after that, you want that as well. If we are honest, however, we want it at our pace.
I mentioned before that Miley Cyrus told several media sources that she wants to be seen as something other than a child Disney star. Let’s see, basically Miley wants to be a grown up. Don’t they all? This time of finding out their own identities is natural and normal. They start questioning the reasons why. They start kickin’ the tires and checking their foundation. It’s no wonder why some parents freak out. I mean why would they care? It’s worked for them all these years, works for you and your parents; why would they want to change things now? “It’s been that way for a 100 years son, and it’s going to be that way for another 100.” rings off walls. The issue is simply; it isn’t theirs. It’s their parents. Do they think they know better? Probably. Are they being rebellious? Possibly. Is it vital that they do it though? Definitely.
Their faith, morals and values need to be theirs. Period. It can’t be yours. “Yours” doesn’t last through their tragedies that they will experience. “Yours” will not hold them together when the world is tearing them apart. “Yours” will not cut the mustard. They have to have “theirs”. It is so important for your children to understand and experience God in the first person, or the first chair. Moses’ father-in-law realized that the people of Israel were coming to Moses for everything. They were asking him questions like, “What does God say about this?” or “What is God’s law on this?” The Father-in-law told him in Exo. 18:20, “…teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.” Basically, let them know what God wants. Then later, Moses gets the same message from God when he receives the 10 commandments in Exo. 24:12 “And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” Teach them. Teach them so that THEY can know.
It is so important for us to teach the Word of God to our children. They need to know for themselves the path of God, the ways of God. They need to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Deut 4:9-10 speaks of teaching your children so that they may learn of God, that they might begin to have a relationship with Him. But I think the most famous is found in Deut 6:6-7 “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” At all times, we need to teach our children the ways of God, at all times we need to be taking our children to God, or to the cross. That is where it all starts. That is where it all matters.
The issue with most children is that they do not have a relationship with God. They simply do not know Him. Either their parents do not know God, don’t follow Him. Or they have a “window relationship”. The only way these children know God is by looking through the “window” of their parents’ lives. The scary thing is most of the parents have this kind of relationship with God themselves, so by the time the perception of God and a relationship with Him comes to the child is so murky and filled with compromise it is only filtered truth. Partial Truth. There is no such thing.
So starting right now, look into your life. Do you have a real personal relationship with God? He wants one with you. God wants you to have a real relationship with Him. He wants your children to have the same thing. Jesus himself stated it the best in Mark 10:14 ” Suffer the little children to come to me…” Not a relationship through parents or grandparents.
Real.
Personal.
Theirs.
Next: Is it real or Memorex?
