Secrets To Raising Wholehearted KidsSýnishorn

MODELING AND GIVING ACCESS TO GOD’S KINGDOM

What story are we inviting our kids into? Is the story they are watching us live big enough to contain all the hopes, dreams, disappointments, and fears they carry? Are the stories our lives are telling filled with life and promise? 

Or is it a small story, a religious story, a limp and narrow story that is painfully less appealing than the competing narratives they’re also being offered? Sports achievement, mind-altering substances, unrestricted sexual expression, a girlfriend or boyfriend, and followers on social media—these are powerful stories. If I’ve learned anything, it is this: our kids’ hearts will gravitate toward the biggest, best, and most life-filled story they can find. If we don’t model a Christianity brimming with life, it simply won’t be attractive enough to captivate their hearts. 

So our first mission must be to come home ourselves to a Gospel and a God so vibrant with life that we can’t help but model the joy and vitality of what we have discovered. And then we must find ways to give our kids direct access to the Kingdom of our Father for themselves in order to cultivate their own faith journey. 

As children grow up, they move from car seats to strollers to bikes. In time, they’ll have access to a car and will no longer need us to drive them around. On that day, where they go will in a large part be up to them. The same is true for their faith. Our goal is to facilitate winsome, age-appropriate access points for them to connect directly to God and His Kingdom. Then we invite them to put their own faith into practice and live in such a way that God has to show up. 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS 

1. If your children were to describe the story they see you living in, what do you think they would say? What part of your story would appeal to them? What part of your story would be unattractive? What is the most appealing, exciting, or life-filled story they see you living in? 
2. If your children had to describe a life of faith and walking with God based on how they observe your life, what might they say? 
3. Look at your life through the eyes of your kids. Describe the faith, spirituality, masculinity, and value system they would observe. 
4. How can you ask your kids to pray for you?