Are we honoring our kids?
You know the verses that talk about honoring our father and mother, right? What are we doing to honor our kids? Anyone who has a difficult child knows how hard it is some days to be encouraging or honoring to them. After we’ve had a run-in—when we’ve sunk to a place we didn’t really want to go—it’s tough sometimes for us to look at them eye to eye. What should we do? What should we say? Sometimes it’s better to just go somewhere quiet and get back our composure. But if you and I are strong, we can grab our offending child, hug them, tell them how much we love them, while explaining how God is using even this situation to mold both of us into the people He wants us to be.
My daughter’s pretty—and she knows it.
A listener wrote in a few weeks ago asking how he could deal with his daughter who is pretty, but she knows it and flaunts it. Wow, that’s a hard one, especially when our culture values beauty. Again, I’m no expert, but there are a lot of verses in Scripture that we can turn to (see the suggested reading below), but here’s one that may help. When Samuel was ready to anoint David as king in 1 Samuel 16, God said not to consider appearance. David was small and a shepherd. The Lord doesn’t look at that. He looks at the heart. We need to talk to our kids about their heart and their need of a Savior—Christ alone.
I just don’t know enough about the Bible.
That’s a common comment we get from parents who WANT to lead family devotions, but just don’t feel like they know enough to do it. Question: if we don’t teach our kids about Christ, who will? Some families leave it up to the church. And while it’s good that our churches are teaching solid biblical instruction, that instruction needs to come from home too. While this may sound a little self-promotional, Keys for Kids Ministries has been providing devotionals for families since 1982. Our app, website, quarterly books, and ebooks feature stories that kids can relate to, while at the same time pointing the whole family to God’s Word. Still unsure? Take the first step and commit to one day a week. Once you start, your kids will start asking for it. Get the Keys for Kids devotional for free, for a year: https://www.keysforkids.org/getkeys
Kids—you’re probably ignoring them.
As parents, the last thing we want to hear from anybody is that we’re ignoring our kids. They need us. But did you know we ARE ignoring our kids? 70% of people around the world who come to Christ make that commitment between their 4th and their 14th birthdays; according to the 4/14 Window people, churches are spending less than 3% of their budget to reach them.* How are we ignoring our kids? Aren’t we leaders in our churches deciding where the money’s being spent? Think of this. The most fertile ground, spiritually speaking, is the work that’s most underfunded. Mom and Dad, let’s encourage our churches to reach out to kids who need Christ and support groups like Keys for Kids Ministries where kids are coming to Christ daily. *All statistics mentioned are from “An Introduction to the 4/14 Window,” ExplainEDtv, YouTube.com
Confidence may be the answer.
Do you have a kid struggling in school? I wasn’t a very driven kid when it came to school. I wasn’t interested in filling my head with knowledge if I didn’t know why I needed it. I didn’t try all that hard, and, because of that, I didn’t get very good grades. That created a confidence issue that was debilitating. But, in 7th grade, my teacher, Mr. McKenzie, saw through my insecurity and said words of encouragement, giving me confidence. That first good grade was all I needed to change and gave me the inspiration I needed to learn the Gettysburg Address. Mom and Dad, we have the power to encourage or discourage our kids. We need to use encouraging words to inspire our kids intellectually but also spiritually. They need both.