If you’re a Christian parent today, you probably feel overwhelmed sometimes. Our kids face a culture that often seems more spiritually dangerous every day. What does the Bible say that can comfort us as Christian parents when we feel anxious about our children’s future?
First, know that you're not alone. I have similar concerns for my own children. We want to see our kids know and love Jesus and walk with him. But the world we live in presents so many challenges to their faith. We know God loves our children, though, and we should thank him for caring about them even more than we do. It's hard for us at times to believe that he cares, but it’s true. So, we can and should pray for our kids and entrust them to the Lord.
As we pray, we should also ask God to help us diligently teach our children his word, raising them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We need God’s help to be godly examples in our homes and bring our children to church. It's only by the grace of the Holy Spirit that our kids can believe and be saved. So, we should ask God to use our efforts to do his work.
A comforting biblical passage that shows us how God works through families is 2 Timothy 1:3. I really love this verse. The apostle Paul tells Timothy, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now I am sure, dwells in you as well.” This passage conveys the idea of passing the faith from generation to generation. Paul says Timothy’s faith was first in his grandmother and mother.
So how did this faith get into Timothy? There's a clue later in the letter. Paul says to Timothy, “From childhood, you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). That's our job as parents: to expose our children to the word of God.
Yes, there are many voices that our children hear in our culture. And many of those voices are lying to our kids about what's valuable, about what's true, about who God is, and about how they can get worth. That's why it's so important for us as Christian parents to expose our children to the truth of God's word. We need to take our children to church every week to hear the word preached. We should talk about the Lord in our homes. We should pray together. It should be normal in our houses to talk about Jesus and the Scriptures. Paul says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).
It’s through that word that God creates faith in the hearts of his people and in the hearts of our children. That's a comfort for us, knowing that it’s God who's in control, and he uses his word.
So that’s our encouragement. It's the word that anchors us in the midst of a culture that's going all over the place.
Listen to Pastor Adriel answer this question on Core Radio here.
