Fight for the Heart
How do you create a culture of unconditional love in your family?
Here’s something that’s true for every family: Every family fights.
Why?
Because we’re people.
There’s always going to be a misunderstanding, an unmet expectation, a conflict that arises. And we all handle those kinds of things in different ways but sometimes it’s easy to forget as a parent that you can win the argument, you can force the right behavior, but in doing so you can lose the heart of your child in the process.
And at the end of the day, if we win the fight but we lose the heart of our kids, have we really won anything at all?
Muffasa the father
There’s this great scene in the Disney Movie, The Lion King. Maybe you remember it.
Mufasa has clearly instructed his son Simba about where he can go and where he cannot go. But Simba pushes the limits and ends up in a precarious situation with a bunch of hungry hyenas!
Mufasa shows up at just the right time and rescues his son, as any father would. And as you might expect, Mufasa is more than a little angry with his son.
After walking a while towards home in the silence, Mufasa begins to talk to his son. This conversation could have gone a couple of different directions. He could have scolded him. He could have unleashed his anger on his son for his disobedience and the dyer circumstances he put himself in as a direct result of his poor decisions.
A Wise Parenting Decision to Fight for the Heart
Sometimes that’s what we do as parents. Sometimes we do that out of anger and frustration.
Sometimes we do that out of fear. Sometimes we do that because… let’s be honest, that’s what our parents did with us!
But Mufasa makes a wise parental decision in this moment. Instead of fighting with his son, he chose to fight for him. To fight for his heart.
Instead of trying to win an argument he chose to communicate his love for his son.
Mufasa understood something that God put deep within all of us from the very beginning… that there is a relationship between love and obedience.
Pursue the Heart
That’s why God, our Heavenly Father, has always pursued our hearts. That’s why God, our Heavenly Father, has always wanted us to know that his love for us is unconditional. There’s nothing we could ever do to make him love us less.
And when we find ourself surrounded by darkness, when we realize we’ve hit rock bottom because of our sins, our disobedience, our poor decisions, he reminds us of the cross and how, at just the right time, He sent His one and only Son to rescue us!
Over and over again God reminds us of His great love for us. You see, your Heavenly Father has always been fighting FOR you. FOR your heart.
He’s always been working for your good and for His glory.
Every family fights. But what if your kids knew that at the end of the day you’re not interested in fighting with them, you’re always fighting FOR them. For their hearts. For them to know the great love of God revealed on the cross in and through Jesus.
And what if your kids knew that it wasn’t just you who is fighting FOR them, but God is fighting FOR them.
Why? Because… He loves them.
Learn more about how to Fight for the Heart in: Parenting Beyond Your Capacity
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