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Posts from September 2014

A Higher Agenda

Encouragement for Parents of Teenagers 695x181The next few posts continue the discussion of how theology should impact our parenting.

Higher Agenda

No matter what happens in life, regardless of our own desires and careful plans, the higher purpose is the will of God and the higher agenda is that we would live to please and glorify Him. As Christian parents we want to use every opportunity to point our teens back to God, who He is, and how they should respond to Him. God needs to be the focus and reason for what we do. This is practical theology.

God is Near

 

Encouragement for Parents of Teenagers 695x181

God is Near

We’ve been talking about the family’s role as the primary learning community. That sounds good, but what does it actually look like? Sometimes our Christian faith gets kind of “fuzzy” when we try to relate biblical truth to everyday life situations. We may quote an out-of-context Bible verse hoping it will motivate them to do the right thing. Let’s take a look at how

From the Heart

 Encouragement for Parents of Teenagers 695x181

 

From the Heart

Good Behavior

good behavior gold starMost parents want their children to do what is right and they often end up with the goal of controlling, directing, guiding the behavior of their children. Christian parents would have to admit that behavior is really important because God calls us to be holy and act differently than the world around us.

However, it is the thoughts and motives in our hearts that ultimately shapes our responses and behavior. God’s Word clearly teaches that the heart is the center of our lives and that our actions (service) should come from our hearts. If we focus all our time and effort on directing or changing the behavior of our teenagers and miss their hearts, we may see young adults who do not follow the Lord the rest of their lives. Simply teaching our children “sin is bad, don’t do it” will create temporary or shallow changes that are not attached to the roots of the heart.

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,”
Deuteronomy 10:12 (ESV)

Shepherding the Heart

drawn_heartOur ultimate goal in Christian parenting should be to know, understand, and shepherd the hearts of our children. What does this mean or look like? A shepherd is concerned with his sheep and their well-being. He is not worried about how his sheep look to others or how much time and effort it takes to care for his sheep. He protects them and he feeds and nourishes them. He guides them to safety and goes after them when they stray. As “shepherds” of our children, we should see ourselves as their primary teachers and guides. We will want to know our children well and seek to understand why they are behaving, thinking, and reacting the way they are. While we want to see outward obedience, our focus will be on what is going on in their hearts and leading them to God, instead of merely punishing bad behavior and “teaching” them a lesson. If we help them and model for them how to know God and desire to glorify Him, the right actions will follow.

I’m praying for you! Let me know how I can help or better serve you and your family.

in HIS service,

Pastor Mark

P.S. The themes and main ideas come from Paul David Tripp’s book “Age of Opportunity”. I’m summarizing what I read, adding my own thoughts and Scripture too.

You can read past posts on our church website HERE.

Making Sense

Encouragement for Parents of Teenagers 695x181

Making Sense

Deep Thinkers

mind 2 bruce rolffBelieve or not, your kids are thinking ALL the time. While it may seem like they are doing lots of things without giving any thought before hand, they actually are thinking. The thoughts of their hearts shape the way they live their lives. The Bible puts a great emphasis on our thoughts. It has a lot to say about truth and falsehood, wisdom and foolishness, belief and unbelief, revelation and human tradition, light and darkness, and good and evil. God says there is a right way to think about life and a wrong way to think. The outcome of either direction of thinking will be our actions.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)

Making Sense of It All

Our children will try to organize, interpret and explain the things going on around them and the things going on in their own lives.They are trying to make sense out of life based on their interpretations of what is happening. They will typically respond not on the basis of the facts, but on the basis of the sense they have made out of those facts. Whether those interpretations are true or false is extremely important because it will shape everything they do.

A Biblical Worldview

world viewA recent Barna poll found that only four percent of Americans had a Christian worldview. So what is a worldview? It is the framework from which we view reality and make sense of life and the world. “[It’s] any ideology, philosophy, theology, movement or religion that provides an overarching approach to understanding God, the world and man’s relations to God and the world,” says David Noebel, author of Understanding the Times. When Christian parents recognize that their children are interpreters, we should do everything we can to get them to think out loud and help instill in them a distinctively biblical view of life. We need to be good listeners and ask good questions so that they can interpret what is going on around them and come to believe the truth.

I’m praying for you! Let me know how I can help or better serve you and your family.

in HIS service,

Pastor Mark

Age of OpportunityP.S. The themes and main ideas come from Paul David Tripp’s book “Age of Opportunity”. I’m summarizing what I read, adding my own thoughts and Scripture too.

You can read past posts on our church website HERE.