Just as our teenagers need to anchor their identity in the existence and character of God, they also need their identities to be firmly rooted in community. This is another key function of the family.
Sinners naturally want to please themselves and will do pretty much whatever it takes to get their way.
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Trust & Obey Wrapping up the discussion of how theology should impact our parenting. Living to glorify God “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” 1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV) Glorifying God means we please Him and show others what He is like through our actions, words, and our hearts. By asking two simple questions, we can train our teens to ask themselves these questions and learn to live for Him.
Obey Help your teenager see that every moment is God’s moment and that in every situation they are called to trust and obey God. I’m praying for you. Let me know how I can help or better serve you and your family. in HIS service, Pastor Mark
You can read past posts on our church website HERE. |
Their Story is God’s Story Continuing the discussion of how theology should impact our parenting. Bible is a Storybook not an Encyclopedia We often describe the Bible as our manual for living. This is a good description, but sometimes we then treat it as an encyclopedia where we look up references for any given topic or problem.…
The next few posts continue the discussion of how theology should impact our parenting.
No matter what happens in life, regardless of our own desires and careful plans, the higher purpose is the will of God and the higher agenda is that we would live to please and glorify Him. As Christian parents we want to use every opportunity to point our teens back to God, who He is, and how they should respond to Him. God needs to be the focus and reason for what we do. This is practical theology.
We’ve been talking about the family’s role as the primary learning community. That sounds good, but what does it actually look like? Sometimes our Christian faith gets kind of “fuzzy” when we try to relate biblical truth to everyday life situations. We may quote an out-of-context Bible verse hoping it will motivate them to do the right thing. Let’s take a look at how
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From the HeartGood Behavior
However, it is the thoughts and motives in our hearts that ultimately shapes our responses and behavior. God’s Word clearly teaches that the heart is the center of our lives and that our actions (service) should come from our hearts. If we focus all our time and effort on directing or changing the behavior of our teenagers and miss their hearts, we may see young adults who do not follow the Lord the rest of their lives. Simply teaching our children “sin is bad, don’t do it” will create temporary or shallow changes that are not attached to the roots of the heart. “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,”
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Making SenseDeep Thinkers
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 (ESV) Making Sense of It AllOur children will try to organize, interpret and explain the things going on around them and the things going on in their own lives.They are trying to make sense out of life based on their interpretations of what is happening. They will typically respond not on the basis of the facts, but on the basis of the sense they have made out of those facts. Whether those interpretations are true or false is extremely important because it will shape everything they do. A Biblical Worldview
I’m praying for you! Let me know how I can help or better serve you and your family. in HIS service, Pastor Mark
You can read past posts on our church website HERE. |
You and your children were not only created for a relationship with God, as I discussed in the last post, but we were also created for relationships with others.
You and your children were made for a relationship with God. We were made to know, love, serve, and obey Him. We were not created to be self-absorbed, self-centered, self-sufficient, or to live autonomously away from our Creator, God. According to Jesus, the greatest commandment is to love and obey God.
P.S. The themes and main ideas come from Paul David Tripp’s book “Age of Opportunity”. I’m summarizing what I read, adding my own thoughts and Scripture too.
We can try to answer the question of “What is a family?” based on our culture or society, but that is an ever-moving target. A frustrated parent may ask, “What am I supposed to do with my impossible teenager?” The real question is “What did God intend
