Thursday, June 21, 2012

It’s Your Job


Read It, Learn It, Live It, Share It with your friends


“I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.”   –Psalm 45:17

Once your children reach first grade they will be spending over 50% of their time with other influencers in their life.  Teachers, bus drivers, friends, counselors, advisers, principals and coaches will have a dramatic influence on their life as your direct time with them slips to less than 20% of their time and attention; assuming they get 8 hours of sleep each night.  Consider that by the time they are teenagers your time with them dwindles down to maybe one hour of dedicated attention per day, that’s only 4% of their life.  Those of you who home-school your children will dramatically shift these odds in your favor of having a stronger influence on their values, morals and ethical decisions.
 
The point of this little statistical analysis is that you must be cognizant and dedicated to teaching your children about God, His Holy Word, His Son and the plan of salvation.  Your children aren’t saved because you believe in Jesus Christ.  It is a decision they must make on their own, based on their own acceptance of His grace and love.  Make a list of those people in your child’s life that have influence on their choices, and ask yourself this one very important question: “Is it this person(s) responsibility to teach my child about God and His plan of Salvation?”  You will likely find that the answer is “No” to most of these people.  Their Sunday School teacher, their Grandparents and other family might be a “Yes” or a “Maybe”.  Do you expect that your child is going to pick up the Bible and begin on page one and grasp the grace, mercy, love and redemptive nature of God’s salvation simply by reading?

It is the most important job you have as a parent.  Yes, you must work for a living to put food on the table.  You must take care of the bills, and keep the house in order, and make sure your children get an education – all of these are important, but fail in relative importance from an eternal perspective on your child’s life.  You don’t have the luxury of handing this responsibility to someone else – it’s your child’s eternity we’re talking about.  It’s great that you have a relationship with Christ and your eternal plan is set.  Are you truly willing to let their eternal life be in question?  They can’t get to heaven on your good intentions or your good acts.  They have to make a decision to live for Christ.  If you are the Father of the household, your job is to be the spiritual leader of your family.  Take Joshua 24:15 seriously, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

As parent’s we must take ownership of our children’s spiritual education.  It is not the responsibility of the Government, the school, the friends, the neighbors or even the church.  Don’t let another day pass by without sitting down on your child’s bed and telling them about Jesus.


© Sondove Enterprises, 2012
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