I heard a famous pastor say, "Before I had children, I had three great theories on parenting. Now I have three children and no great theories on parenting." I heard another pastor say, "I´m doing the best I can with my children, but I have promised them I would pay for their counseling!"
As funny as these quotes are, one thing is for certain whether we parent good or whether we parent badly, we are parenting, and our children are like video cameras with legs. Like it or not, they´re always on the record mode.
The question isn´t if we are passing on anything to our children. It´s what are we passing on. Very often, they follow our example. What they see us do, they do. Our children become who we are.
Our children are a tremendous blessing to us, but they are also a tremendous responsibility that God has entrusted to us. Like the parable of the talents, as parents, we have been entrusted to nurture, train, teach and prepare our children for life. The weight of the responsibility can feel heavy at times, but that is when we rely and depend on God´s strength and wisdom.
My wife and I realize that we only have a short period of time with our children under our care, a critical window of opportunity with only a few years to mold, shape and influence their lives. How we use those years, how we raise our children, what we do with those lives in a few short years that we have with them is so important and critical.
Other than serving Jesus, this should be the highest priority we have has parents. Nothing is more important than raising our children. No one else is responsible for raising our children. We can´t outsource our parenting to someone else.
We have to be the best example to our family that we can be as parents.
Jesus made it so clear. He said the first place our light should be an example and a witness should be in our own home. "You are the light of the world. Don´t hide your light under a bowl; put it on a stand so it can give light to everyone in the house." Matthew 5:14–15.
I would encourage you to:
- Make a 100% commitment to Jesus Christ. Become a devoted follower of Jesus. Give Him first place in your life.
- Take the next step; take a stand for your family. "As for me and my house we are going to serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15. You may not do everything right, but make a daily effort to take a stand. You may not have had a Christ–centered legacy modeled for you growing up, but today you can draw the line in the sand. You can be the catalyst for change for your family name.
My siblings and I were raised in a godly home with godly parents who passed on their faith to their children. Today, we´re all serving in full time ministry and love God and desire to serve Him in whatever capacity. I believe we are all where we are today partly because of the way our parents modeled and lived out their faith. My wife came from a totally different background. As long as she can remember, she was raised in a very unstable, chaotic home with poor role models. All she saw growing up was dysfunction. But she is a living testimony today of a parent who drew a line in the sand.
When we married, she told me, "Paul, with God´s help, I´m going to break this cycle and leave a different legacy for my children." I can honestly say fifteen years later, that she is the finest mother I have ever seen.
- Bring your family to church. Take the next step and let them see that your walk with God isn´t reserved for just a couple of hours every week. Let them see how your relationship with Jesus permeates and influences every part of your life.
- Let them see you read your Bible and pray.
- Let them see you walk through the tough times of life depending on Jesus with a peace that passes all understanding.
- Let them see you walk in love.
- Let them see you walk in integrity.
- Let them see you treat people (and most importantly, them) with unqualified kindness and respect.
- Let them see how you turn the other cheek.
- Let them see you ask for forgiveness.
- Let them see Jesus´ transforming, redeeming and restoring work in your life.
You might be thinking after reading this list, "I´m not perfect!" but none of us are perfect. That´s what´s so amazing about God´s grace. We don´t have to be perfect. We just have to be real, honest, sincere and dependent on Jesus.
Every day, I encourage you, no matter what yesterday looked like, dedicate your day and parenting to God. You are also serving and working unto Him as you parent. God will anoint you and equip you. All you have to do is ask for his help and submit to Him.
Scripture says in Mark 4:24, "The measure of thought and study you give to the truth you hear will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you." (Amplified Version).
The Bible is filled with scripture on the subject matter of wisdom and walking in love. Take the time to study good parenting books and sermons dealing with parenting. You may not feel or see the difference at first, but eventually, the knowledge and wisdom you´ve studied will pay off.
You can leave a legacy of faith for your children, affecting your children´s children and generations to come.
PAUL OSTEEN
Paul Osteen, M.D. had a busy practice in general and vascualr surgery in Little Rock, Arkansas for many years. In July 1999, he moved to Houston to work full–time in the ministry at Joel Osteen Ministries. Currently he provides oversight to the pastoral and discipleship ministries at Lakewood. He speaks at the Wednesday night service twice monthly and teaches the new convert class every Sunday night. Paul and his wife Jennifer have 5 children: Matt, Georgia, Olivia, Sophia and Jackson.