What am I doing here? On this random blog…
I know that’s what you’re thinking right now. And I echo that question. What are you doing here? Oh that’s right – you’ve got the hardest job in the world. Christian parenting!
I mean, let’s be honest. Parenting is hard enough on its own. There are these little people running (or crawling) around, and they have a will of their own. You can’t control them, no matter how hard you try. And boy do you try. They are so needy – all the time. And I mean, all the time. Every. Single. Minute. Except when they are sleeping. But even then, you’re still wondering if they’re ok. How many times will you have to get up tonight?
But that’s just parenting. Throw the word Christian in front of it, and you get the hardest gig you could imagine. You are responsible, not just for the health and development of this little human. You are responsible for the health of their soul too! This tiny little person is going to live forever. Yes Christian parent, you heard that right. You are responsible for their soul, which, along with their body, will end up somewhere forever.
But as we’ve already been discussing (yes this is a discussion – I hope you’ve been talking out loud back to me…), we can’t control them! We can’t determine where they will end up for all of eternity. Now if you’re anything like me, and you love that little ball of skin, hair, sweat and poo called your child, then you’re gonna feel a little stuck right now. Am I really telling you that we, as Christian parents, are responsible for their souls, and yet cannot indubitably decide the outcome for them? Well, yes I am.
How can we go on? What are we to do? Where is Mufasa when we need him?
Well, we may not have Mufasa, but we have the next best thing. Cancel that. We have something so much better than a dead lion in the sky. We have the Word of God. We have the Creator of the universe (not to mention He’s also the creator of your kidlets) who gives us the insight we need. We have the Holy Spirit of the Living God inside of us, who helps us understand this magnificent Word, and work out how that translates into the messy life of our families.
And the first thing we note is that the mighty Word of God doesn’t tell us to throw our hands in the air in despair and give up. No. It tells us to point our kids to the king. It tells us to bring our kids up in the training and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:4). It tells you, Christian parent, that you have a very real influence over the life of your child. While you might not be able to control them, do not by any means downplay your impact on their life. In fact, other than the Lord Jesus himself, you will likely have the biggest impact out of anyone on the life of your child.
So what do we do? How do we have an impact for good not for bad? What can we do to set them up with the best chance of heaven, not hell? Well dear friend, this blog is the answer! Here you will find that elusive jewel of how to become the perfect Christian parent. Jks. This isn’t that blog. For that, you might need to follow Paul Tripp (seriously – have you seen that dude’s moustache??). No, this blog is for parents just trying to have a crack. It is aimed to make you think. To point you in the right direction of good resources (and trust me, the majority of kids resources aren’t good!). To give you simple, practical ideas of ways you can point your kids to the Lord Jesus. To help you move beyond trying to change their behaviour, towards helping to shape their hearts.
So if you’re keen for any of that, please have a peruse. We pray that it might be helpful. From some Christian parents to others, let’s do this thang.
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