Thursday, January 1, 2015

"Kids will have questions, Will you have answers?"

The Word tells us in Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." As parents we are responsible o teach our children the ways of the Lord and to live a life the pleases Him (Deuteronomy 6:7). Essentially we are making disciples for Christ in our families(Matthew 28:18-20). The hope is our children will grow in the ways of the Lord.

After reading this scripture and understanding that if I train my child correctly they will learn the ways of Christ and bring honor to His Name. But as of late this scripture has made think of how I am living my life, if I train my child to follow Christ when they come of age and understand His Word better will my life match God's Word or will I look like a hypocrite to them?

If I teach and train my child to act in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control am I living that life. Or am I opposed to live a life to please Jesus because the word like sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, and orgies are a better description of who I am. I am an example of what it means to follow God's Spirit or am I an example of what it means to follow the devil (Galatians 5:16-26).

These are real life questions that as parents we will have to answer when the time comes. I am not preaching perfection but I am preaching transforming our ways under the Grace of God and by the Strength of His Spirit (Romans 12:2). We can easily dismiss this or pawn it off or we can act as responsible parents and live a life the pleases Jesus in every circumstance and every situation.

When your son asks you "Daddy how did you deal with lust? Did you fight against it or did you give in and say "I am just a man?" Or when your daughter ask, "Mommy how did you submit to you Daddy as the Word tells wives to, did you let him be the spiritual leader, did you encourage him, respect him, or did you stifle his leadership?" When kids asks, "How come you and Uncle Mike don't talk any more, why do you always mock people at church, why Daddy...Why Mommy?" Listen the list can go on and on but if we are truly training our children to follow Jesus we will have answer these tough questions and we can either try to justify our actions or we can humbly admit we wanted to gratify our selfishness as opposed to living for Jesus.

I am not saying we all go back to our parents to question them but I am saying if we call ourselves Christians and we are teaching our children the ways of the Lord, we must look at our own lives in every situation and ask "Our my actions/reactions pleasing to Jesus." Instead of trying to prove our actions as acceptable let's live like people who are dead to sin and alive to Christ (Romans 6:11).

I challenge you as a parent to live a life that reflects Christ and not a life the reflects your opinions because your kids are watching. Stay focused, you can do this!

"In His JOY!"

Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be Accountable.

http://consumedbyjoy.blogspot.com/

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