How do we raise kids of faith?
I remember the day we brought our first child home from the hospital. I remember thinking, “What now?”
We had been preparing for his arrival for weeks doing all the things that expectant parents do. But now, he’s here. I remember the day we put him in the car to drive home for the first time. I had never driven so slow in my life. Every car that came near us was a potential threat.
For the first time I felt the weight & responsibility of being a father. I felt the need to protect this small life behind me in the car. I knew that from this day forward it was my job to provide for him, guide him, help him grow, love him, discipline him, teach him, & be present for him. But I also knew there was something more I had to do. Somehow, I had to teach this child that there was a God who was His Father, the perfect Father, who loved him more than I could ever love him. To know that he would sometimes fail & be far from perfect but that didn’t mean he had to be far from God.
[Tweet “You may fail & be far from perfect but that doesn’t mean you have to be far from God.”]For those of us who are parents, expectant parents, grandparents, step parents, single parents, foster parents, adoptive parents or maybe you’re serving as a parent, a big brother, a big sister or some other kind of mentoring role in the life of a child… then you know what this responsibility feels like. You’ve asked yourself the question. You know the question.
The question is, “How?”
We all have the same goal. For those of us who are followers of Jesus & are trying to parent our children or influence the next generation, we have a common goal. We want to raise our kids to be God-loving, Jesus-following, self-sacrificing adults. We want our kids to come to know God, love God & serve God with their lives. We want them to be a part of the movement that is the kingdom of Heaven on planet earth. We want our kids to know Jesus & share Jesus.
We want them to believe that the same God that helped David defeat Goliath will help them stand up with courage when they face those that oppose God as well. We want them to believe that the same God that met with Moses will meet with them. That the same God that used Esther to save her people will use them too. That the same God that sent Paul to spread the gospel & plant churches all over the world will send them spread the gospel & plant more churches as well.
[Tweet “We want to raise our kids to be God-loving, Jesus-following, self-sacrificing adults. #milestones”]We all have the same heart, the same desire, the same goal. We want our kids to be so deeply in love with Jesus that it completely redefines their life.
We all have the same goal… the question is, “How?”
Setting Up Memorial Stones
In Joshua 4, we read about what happened after God parted the waters of the Jordan River so that the entire nation of Israel could cross on dry ground. It’s an amazing story, but here’s the part I want you to hear:
So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen—one from each of the tribes of Israel. He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.” Joshua 4.4-7
God has just done a miraculous event. How could anyone ever forget what God had done here in this place? How could anyone ever forget how the Jordan River at flood stage rushing like white water rapids at 40 mph just literally stopped flowing so that two million people could cross on dry ground?
How could anyone forget what God had done that day?
But the truth is, people forget all the time.
So God, in His wisdom, told the people to set up memorial stones. He wanted to make this moment & then mark this moment to remind the people of God of what He had done in this place. He wanted them to remember & to teach their children to remember. God knew that this moment like so many moments before would remind people to hope in Him, to trust Him & put their faith in Him. And these stones would remind this generation to tell the next generation about who God is & what He has done.
Raising kids of faith can be kind of like facing the Jordan River at flood stage.
How do you do it? It seems impossible in some ways in our culture with our challenges, with all the temptations so easily accessible & readily available.
I think God has already given us the answer in this story. One way you raise kids of faith is by setting up milestones. It’s by making & marking moments that remind us what God is doing & what God has done for us.
[Tweet “Milestones make & mark moments that remind us of what God has done for us. #milestones”]Milestones are created moments that help define & give direction to the faith of the next generation. This is important because faith isn’t something you’re just taught, it’s something you experience. So the question for us as parents is how can we create moments, milestones, in the lives of our kids so that we can remind them of what God is doing & what God has done in their lives?
Here at Riverside Church of Christ, where I preach, we have a great tool to help parents that anyone can use. Here are twelve milestones along a faith path that you can use in your family with your children to help them grow into the men & women of faith you are praying for them to become. You can find these milestones here: Milestones
May we be a generation that makes & marks moments for the next generation to remember what God has done. May we pass on this faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in such a way that it completely redefines our lives & the lives of our children.
