Intentional Father by Jon TysonSample

Jon Tyson: Intentional Father Devotional Day 4

“Discipling Your Son for Christ”

Scripture reading: Luke 6:40; Ephesians 6:4; 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Today I want to expand on what I said in yesterday’s devotional. I want to go directly to the spiritual content of what you can be teaching your son. What we’re talking about here is discipleship. 

Do you remember Jesus’s words in Luke 6:40? The student who is fully trained will be like the master. Being discipled is nothing more or less than being trained to become like Jesus.

Here are some questions that you can work through together with your son. 

1. Who is God? 

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. And you’d be amazed at how much moral therapeutic deism is floating around in the minds of young people who are aware of only half of the attributes of God. They have a distorted image of God and don’t know who he is. 

2. What is the gospel? 

Gospel, as you may know, means “good news,” and this phrase carries some assumptions. First, it’s news, which means you have to find out about it—you don’t just know it. Second, it’s good. It’s all about Jesus and what he does for us.

3. What is the biblical story? 

The Bible can be a big, confusing book, and there are so many aspects of it we can help walk our teenagers through to help them gain understanding: the creation, the fall, the rise of the patriarchs, the exodus, the establishment of the children of Israel, the prophets, the kings, the rebellion, all of the things leading up to Jesus’s arrival, and the redemption and restoration of all things. Help your son know the whole storyline.

4. How do I read the Bible? 

Use the acronym TIME: truth, insights, mission, and encounter. This will help your son to put the Bible in context, to see how to study different parts of the Bible, and to learn how to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, how to resist temptation, and how to obey God. 

Please, don’t outsource the discipleship of your kids to their youth group. I love student ministry, and they can be wonderful partners, but God has given you a sacred responsibility to disciple your kids, to help them walk that path, and to give them the tools they need.

Get practical. Make a plan for being your son’s discipler, starting with these four questions.