Your Children Are Your Disciples!

Matthew 28: 19,20   “Therefore go and make disciples…and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

      If you have children, you don’t have to go very far to find the greatest opportunity in the entire world to disciple someone.  Your children are your first disciples!  The Bible makes it clear that our children are a greater priority than other opportunities to minister.  This is the reason Paul instructed Timothy that if a man desires to be an elder that he should first be a good manager of his own home. 

The reason for this is simple:  It is easy for me to fake and act to even the people I counsel, but my wife and children know the real me.  I live too close to them to be able to pull the wool over their eyes.  Because of this truth, they know, from my words, but more importantly from my actions what I believe in and what I value.  As Jesus said, “Where a man’s treasure is, his heart is also.”

The simple truth is this, if I cannot disciple my children I have no right to give to someone else what I ought to be giving to them.  Because of this, I need to make Jesus manifest in the things I do, especially in the small things.  This means they must see in my face, eyes, and tone of voice, the absolute joy that I have because they are my children.  I want them to say to themselves that they desire to know Jesus because of the beautiful things He has done in my life, my heart, and my attitudes.  I want them to experience the joy of being a Christian through little hugs and kisses, through the consistency I exhibit in my own life, in the gentle way I treat their mother, by taking the time to listen to what they are really saying by looking them in the eye and telling them I love them, by believing in and focusing on the incredible miracles they are with all the potential they possess, and finally through fair and consistent discipline aimed at inspiring them to be good people of character.  When they finally leave home, the legacy I give them will be evidenced in the hundreds of daily decisions I have made, good and bad that communicate to them who Jesus really is, in my life.

Truly, the responsibility of parenting is one of the greatest, most difficult, ambitious, challenging, and rewarding endeavors we will ever undertake.  Parenting gives us the opportunity to mold another person from day one, with day-to-day contact, and within extremely close quarters.  This is the greatest example of discipling that exists!  Let us pray for each other as we take on this challenge as seriously as we can.

                                 Parenting with His grace,    Paul