[Keep Walking] The Perseverance of ParentingSample

A Contagious Relationship With The Father 

We want our faith to be contagious and sticky. We want it to be something that enables us to say, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” Our faith should be something that our children see and want for themselves, that can be passed down from generation to generation, and that we can commit to wholeheartedly.

There is a song I like called, “Talking to Jesus” by Elevation Worship. It talks about the importance of prayer. The first verses are about a man’s grandmother talking to Jesus. Then, it talks about his mom talking to Jesus. A few verses down, it gets to the son talking about himself as a dad of three and how he is trying to raise them upright. He talks about a time when he was in his room praying. His son came into the room and saw him, but did not want to interrupt him. The dad told the son to come in so they could pray together, affirming that there was no better time to be interrupted. So they prayed together. They both started talking to Jesus that day, and they will keep talking to Jesus for the rest of their lives. They found a great friend in Jesus!

Do you see what happened? The faith got transitioned. It got moved. It went from generation to generation. 

I want to ask you to do something this week. We all love to-do lists: lists of things we can do so that we can check them off. It is like a mission. Would you think of a family member who you can pray for each day of the week? It could be your children, your spouse, or your parents. Take a different family member every day, pray for him or her, and tell them you prayed. Maybe you can text them and say, you love and prayed for them today. 

This will give you a way to connect with your family. Telling them about it will create conversation and could be a means of bringing them closer to God. It can inspire them to move into wanting a contagious relationship with God the Father. It is always encouraging when someone says, “I prayed for you today.” It is a blessing so let’s do that with our family and friends.