This Week in Faith 9-5-19
/You Are Not Your Child’s Sin
This is a really important reminder- “[Parents are] not built to bear [their] kids’ sin. There is only One strong enough to bear the guilt of others, and his name is Jesus.” It is so easy for us to feel guilt and shame over our kids’ wrong behavior. We hear the comments people make about someone else’s parenting and wonder what those parents say about our parenting when we’re not around. We see people’s faces as they watch our kids act out and we can only imagine what they are thinking. We know what we’ve thought about other people’s parenting and then our child begins to do the same thing. The gospel frees us from carrying this burden as we place it on Jesus. it doesn’t abdicate us from the responsibility of parenting. But it does allow us to do it with freedom and joy because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. [Romans 8:1] I hope this article is a breath of fresh air for you today as you wrestle with the failures of your children but do it depending on his power to work in your kids and resting in the identity that has been secured by Jesus. I also hope it helps us be slower to condemn parents around us when their kids misbehave but quicker to pray for and encourage those parents with the hope of the gospel because sooner than later, we are going to be desperate for the same.
Click here to read the article by Gretchen Ronnevik.
How to Pray When Your Kids Go Off to College
There is a lot of good wisdom in this article on praying for your kids whether they are in your house or away in their next season of life. We often become frustrated with ourselves as parents because we feel like we should be doing more. But as he says in the article, “It’s possible the most valuable thing you will ever do for your kids is to pray for them.”
Thanking God for your kids, praying specifically, and telling your kids you are praying for them are just a few of the helpful ideas he elaborates on in this article.
Click here to read the article by Sam Crabtree.
On Daughters and Dating: How to Intimidate Suitors
This article isn’t what you think from the title. But it is an important read. Kelly and I have talked about what our plan is when Emily begins to bring guys home to date. We have talked about the conversations we want to have and the opportunity it is to invest in young men. We heard Dennis Rainey speak a couple years ago about this and he has written a great book on how to initiate great gospel conversations with guys that come to date your daughter. The goal is to show them that you care about them and want what’s best for your daughter, and them.
But this article talks about what we can do in the meantime…raise strong, Godly daughters who make wise decisions in who they are interested in and in who they attract. I love this way of thinking and no matter how old your daughter is now, I hope it can help give you a healthy vision for the dating years and how to prepare for them.
Click here to read the article by Jen Wilkin.
5 Tips For Helping Your Teens Study the Bible
Written by a teenager, this article gives some practical ideas to help your kids learn to love the Bible. Helping our kids learn to love and study the Bible for themselves is an important part of helping them stick with heir faith for a lifetime. This is one of the reasons the studies we are doing with middle and high schoolers this fall include reading for them to do during the week. Our hope is this will give your kids some tools to study the Bible for themselves and give you opportunities to have conversations with them about it. Encourage them to do the reading during the week. Ask them questions about what they are learning. Even do the reading at the same time as them. I think the Pray For Me books will help to this end also. Pick a time where your whole family can read and pray at the same time. Or talk about the reading for the day. Or the thoughts you wrote down at the end. Your love for God’s Word and your desire for your kids to love it too are two of the means by which God can produce a genuine love for Jesus in them.
