What’s the Goal?

Without a doubt, the primary way your child will know about God is through you.  It is great temptation to “job out” the task of teaching the Bible to your children to the professionals.  Pastors, church staff, volunteers and school staff can be very valuable supplemental resources, but you are God’s first choice to pass on the faith.

The transmission of faith from one generation to the next has suffered a great decline.  Parents still are very keen to teach their children math, English, computers or anything that might help get their kids a good job in the end, but teaching about Jesus has been neglected.

What is the goal of teaching your child about Jesus?  Let me first tell you what the goal is not.  It is not to pass on cultural traditions.  Our faith has many moving traditions that we hold dear, but they are a minor concern.  It is not to create a church member.  Being an active part of a congregation is important but it is at best a means to an end.  It is not to create a Lutheran.  Denominational identity means little without the core reasons.  It is not merely moral training.  Morals are at best a side benefit.

You share with your children about Jesus, because Jesus is the only way to have forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God.  You don’t want a relationship with your children for a while.  You want it forever.  We all need to belong to Jesus, and we need to never fall away from our Savior, and yet it happens far too often.

Secondly, you want your children to be disciples of Jesus:  to learn from Him, know Him personally, and serve Him.  It is why we are alive.  Being a faithful disciple is the only thing that will have a reward that lasts forever.

When you consider those two reasons, is there anything else even close to being a higher priority?  School, work, sports and entertainment often get treated like they are more important.  Kids pick up on how you prioritize things.  Do you skip church for other priorities?  If so, that says much.

The website resources provided here are meant to be tools in your hands for teaching your kids.  If you do miss worship, Sunday School, bible class or confirmation, taking the time to catch up not only provides for a more consistent training, it conveys what is important.

Sinful Nature:

Making Parenting a Challenge Since the Beginning

Being a parent is a real blessing, but nobody said it was easy.  There is a reason that the topic of discipline has to come up when speaking of parenting. Our children are hard wired to be selfish, to resist parenting, to resist God and possibly much more.  The Bible calls it sinful nature, and only the deepest denial can keep you from noticing it.

“Surely I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me”, says David in the Psalms.  He is not exaggerating.  Rather he points out a sad genetic reality.  Sin is in the genes.  That fact does not doom us to bad behavior, but we all need to realize that nurture has an uphill battle against nature.  We also need to recognize that “the way we are born” is not acceptable.  There is nothing wrong with behavior modification.  In fact, it is necessary to get along with others.

Resources