Raising Your Children to Love Jesus Christናሙና

Day 5: Teach Them to Serve

You love your children. You would do anything for them. But sometimes, rather than appreciating this love and sacrifice, we can feed their natural self-centeredness. In spite of all the ways we serve them, we can end up with self-absorbed rather than thankful children.

This is because sin causes our hearts to curve in on themselves. That's why as parents, we need to give them the better gift—the gift of serving. This brings us to our fifth commitment.

A disciple-making parent will train his or her children to serve the Lord and others.

Tucked away in the first few chapters of the book of Judges is a narrative that is instructive for us. After coming out of Egypt, wandering in the desert, and conquering the Promised Land, a new generation of Israelites was taking over. They were untested. Would they follow the Lord or not? Scripture tells us that God left enemies in the land to see whether Israel would follow the Lord.

What we can see in this is that we all need challenges and service to grow. Those draw us closer to the Lord so that we can know him more intimately. Sometimes, in our love for our children, we can deny them the trials and the service that their soul-muscles need—service.

This heart of service is the road to greatness. Jesus taught his disciples that if they wanted to be great in the kingdom, they needed to be a servant of all. His followers were to be known for humility and service, which is the exact opposite of our nature.

In fact, Jesus taught that it was more blessed to give than to receive. Training in humble service is the exact opposite of our child-oriented, child-centered culture. But the parent who wants to give their children the greatest gift must give them the gift of serving.

How do we do this?

We can train our children to serve in small ways. Serving the family through chores or serving a sibling are easy wins in the home. In addition, we can also train them to serve the Lord by serving his people. The local church provides numerous opportunities for small, informal kindnesses and for more formal types of ministry.

A parent who wants the best for their children will seek to develop a servant's heart. Training our children to serve is training them for kingdom greatness.

Prayer:

Father, you sent your Son as a servant. He washed feet, touched lepers, and actively reached out in service. Forgive my self-absorption. Show me and my family ways you would have us serve you. I truly love my children but perhaps have been unwise by feeding their self-centeredness. Would you help me train them to serve appropriately to their age? Show me how they can serve in our family and in our church. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

This 5-day devotional is inspired by the best-selling book, The Disciple-Making Parent: A Comprehensive Guidebook for Raising Your Children to Love and Follow Jesus Christ. Click here to learn more and get your free audiobook.