Discipling the nations, one child at a time

As my wife is at work today and I am at home trying to have my morning devotions with three screaming kids sword fighting around my head, I began to ponder how difficult it is to raise kids. What responsibility! Not only do I have to deal with my own sin nature, but the sin nature of three little boys. I want to present these little men mature in Christ at the end of the age. This will not happen by chance, but by my active discipling. Day in and day out, by word and by deed, your kids see who you really are and gradually become conformed to that image. We, by nature become what we behold. (2 Cor. 3:18) Biblically, the responsibility for teaching the children rests squarely on the father's shoulders.

Psalm 127

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.
Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

This psalm grips me because of the idea of your children being arrows. They go farther than we do and in the direction we are pointing. If my life is pointed toward Zion, theirs is more so. If the direction of my life is set on education, employment, wealth, entertainment or the myriad of "other things" that choke the word and make it unfruitful, most likely so will theirs. The law of creation is that everything multiplies after it's own kind.

My aim in parenting is that my fleshed out walk with Jesus will be an on ramp for my kids to grow in the knowledge of God and by standing on my shoulders to see farther than me and to run harder than me.

'May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace.' Psalm 144:12