At some point, all kids play a game called “follow the leader.”
Do you remember playing this game?
In this game, someone is designated as the leader, and everyone else is a follower. The follower is supposed to follow the leader – go where they go, say what they say, and do what they do.
Parenting is basically a game of follow the leader.
First, the parents are to follow God their Father. Thankfully, much of what we need to learn about parenting comes by being God’s child. We learn how to be parents to our own children as we seek to treat our kids the way our perfect Dad has treated us, His kids.
Second, the parents are to help their children follow them as they follow God. This is the point of parenting : our ultimate goal must be that our children would grow to love and follow God. This simple refrain is repeated on a multitude of occasions throughout Scripture, where it says that a particular generation worshiped the God of their fathers, because God intends for children to worship the same God as their parent(s).
For example, Christians worship the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Those are three generations of family members. As a Christian parent, we should labor to see our children (and grandchildren) worship the same God we do. To pursue that goal, we must worship that God first.
Proverbs 20:7 says it this way, “The righteous who walks in his integrity—blessed are his children after him!” The big idea is that a parent is a leader, and if they want their kids to walk toward the Lord then they need to lead the way.
Practically, this means such things as:
- Your children will learn a lot about about praying by hearing you pray.
- Your children will learn a lot about repentance by seeing you repent.
- Your children will learn a lot about forgiveness by witnessing you forgive.
- Your children will learn about trusting God by watching you trust God.
- Your children will learn a lot about church by going to church with you.
- Your children will learn a lot about right and wrong through your instruction.
- Your children will learn a lot about the Bible by hearing you read it to them before they are old enough to read it for themselves.
How are you doing at following God? How are you doing at leading your child? How is your child doing at following you and God?