Purpose

There is another noteworthy aspect to God’s parenting: He doesn’t treat all of His children the same. He makes each of them unique with unique gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4–6, 29–30). This is His parenting purpose. He places a calling on their lives and guides each into His own journey (1 Corinthians 7:17). Each of His children even receives tailor-made grace (Ephesians 4:7) and individualized rewards (1 Corinthians 3:8; Revelation 22:12). Emulating our Gardener in this way means giving up on the idea of raising superkids according to our vision for their lives, and instead parenting our unique children according to their God-given design. We are called to the challenge and adventure of identifying that design in each of our children and prayerfully pruning it into a God-glorifying thing of beauty!

Ask Yourself: 

Do I prune each child according to his or her nature, or do I have a one-style-fits-all approach?

We hope you enjoyed the Growing Kids with Character reading plan. In the full book Growing Kids with Character, Hettie Brittz helps you learn how to use your kids’ God-given personalities to guide them on their spiritual journey and firmly establish their identity and purpose in Christ. You can get more information about the book and sign up to receive free materials from David C Cook HERE.