Raising Kids with a Kind Heart Who Love the Lord – Part Three

Submitted by Jennifer Power

The past two weeks, I have presented suggestions for raising kids with a kind heart who love the Lord. My previous posts have emphasized kindheartedness more than loving the Lord.

This is not by mistake.

Our children’s early years are critical for development. While children can (and I believe do) connect with God prior to developing strong language skills and an awareness of self and the world in which they live, our investment in our children’s spiritual lives in these early years looks more physical than spiritual.

Notice I said looks. It is important to keep in mind God made the physical world, ordered it, and set governing laws (such as gravity) and principles (such as found throughout Proverbs) in place. We are in danger of misunderstanding our faith lives when we compartmentalize life into spiritual and nonspiritual categories.

This “nonspiritual” work of pouring into our children in some of the ways I have mentioned previously is in fact very spiritual and produces spiritual results. This nonspiritual spiritual work lays beautiful groundwork for imparting genuine and transformational faith into the lives of our children.

Think of it as preparing the ground before planting the seeds.

While we certainly can (and absolutely should) include visibly spiritual components to our parenting early on in our children’s lives, more damage will be done by overemphasizing the spiritual and under-emphasizing the nonspiritual early on than vice versa. Too often, children’s faith journeys are wounded by parenting which lacks warmth but is thick with religious expectation (or one where warmth and anger are present in unpredictable patterns).

Children who have not felt loved, accepted, and securely cared for by their primary caretakers will struggle to accept the flawless love of their heavenly father.

With these thoughts in mind, I turn to some more spiritual suggestions for raising kids with kind hearts who love the Lord.

1. SHARE STORIES.

Children love stories, so tell your kids stories from the Bible and from your own faith journey. If you have extended family members or good friends who love Jesus, encourage them to share their stories as well. Do not, however, feel you must sugar-coat these stories. While we need to be careful not to share something with our kids which is not age-appropriate, we also do not need to paint a picture of our faith which does not reflect reality. Kids need to know it is okay and perfectly natural to have doubts, struggles, fears, insecurities, and questions. If they are to adopt the faith as their own, they need to know it is not always rose petals and butterflies. There are thorns. There are stingers. This is normal and does not mean God is not with us or that His Word is void.

They need to have role models in the faith who struggle and make it out the other side – who will forgive them and remind them God has forgiven them too.

So, tell them your stories. Expose them to Bible stories from a young age. Encourage others to share their stories. And keep it genuine.

2. ENCOURAGE THEIR QUESTIONS…AND ANSWER THEM.

Even though it can be scary to hear a question to which you do not know the answer, be willing to face the questions anyway. Answer their questions truthfully and to the best of your ability. Refer them to someone else if you do not know the answer, and tell them you will look into it and get back with them. Better yet, if they are able, invite them to look into the answer with you. Even if they encounter a question which you fear will derail their faith, do not discourage the question and do not give them simple, prepackaged answers.

Do not worry – God is a God of truth and is not afraid of our questions. Faith which is on the brink of despair over a difficult question but which comes out the other side is perhaps much much stronger than faith which simply believes the status quo and refuses to consider anything else.

3. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OPPORTUNITIES TO PRAY WITH THEM.

Two weeks ago I mentioned the importance of praying for your kids. Now, I suggest you never miss an opportunity to pray with your kids. No worries if you do not sound eloquent when you pray – It is probably better that way.

Do not limit prayer time to pre-meal and pre-bed times.

Did they scrape their knee or are they feeling sick or sad? Stop what you are doing, stoop down, and pray with them. Invite them to pray as well, but do not pressure them to pray if they would rather not.

Did someone hurt their feelings? Pray for healing; pray for forgiveness to be cultivated in your child’s heart; pray for reconciliation. Pray these prayers aloud with your child.

Did God provide for your family in an unexpected way? Point out God’s provision and pray a prayer of thanksgiving together as a family.

These are just three ways to begin cultivating in your children a love for our great God. I pray these suggestions will challenge and bless you. Until next week, may God give you great grace and mercy as you set out to raise kids with a kind heart who love the Lord.

Raising Kids who have a Kind Heart and Love the Lord

Raising Kids who have a Kind Heart and Love the Lord – Part Two

Raising Kids who have a Kind Heart and Love the Lord – A Brief Guide to Spiritual Disciplines

Raising Kids who have a Kind Heart and Love the Lord – A Brief Guide to Spiritual Disciplines (cont.)