Raising World Changers In A Changing World By Kristen WelchSample

Day Five

A Strong Foundation

Scripture: Isaiah 58:7–8

I often hear children’s leaders and youth pastors sound discouraged about how many parents leave spiritual teaching and Bible education entirely up to the church. 

If we are depending on the church to raise mature believers who live out their purpose, and withstand the shifting truth sweeping across our world, we will fail our children. The church comes alongside the family to emphasize and reiterate what children are learning at home. If we are not modeling biblical truth to our kids, their foundation may not withstand the storms of life. 

So how do we show Jesus’s example today? We do what He did. We show our love for God not by what we say but by what we do. 

If someone interviewed our children today and asked them, “What’s the most important thing in your family?” how would they answer? If the interviewer pressed a little harder and asked, “What does your family spend the most time doing or spend the most money on?” what would our children say? Kids are honest, sometimes painfully so. They are superb at calling our bluffs and seeing our motives.

We love our neighbors in our world by seeing their needs and meeting them. This is practical, real-time generosity. This is taking what we have and sharing it with those who have less, not in theory but in feet-on-the-street, tangible acts of love. Generosity isn’t just giving stuff. It’s also giving ourselves. 

That being said, it is giving material things too. We have good friends who lead the American office of Vision Rescue, a beautiful ministry that provides hope in the streets of Mumbai, India. One of their projects is converting old school buses into mobile classrooms to educate the huge population of street kids. Our friends have four daughters who decided to have a garage sale to raise the $2,400 it costs to pay a schoolteacher’s salary. I told my kids about it, and we gathered some things for their sale. They spent weeks collecting and pricing items. They held a giant sale and lived out an incredible story of loving others. God multiplied their efforts, and they raised $40,051, enough to pay the salary for sixteen teachers! I want my family to be a part of as many of these kinds of stories as possible. 

What do you think a visitor would say was the highest priority in your home today?