Leading your kids to spiritual health #1

Over the next few posts, I'd like to spend some time talking about how to lead your kids to spiritual health. What is spiritual health, you might ask? Jesus defines spiritual health and the spiritually healthy person in Mark 12:30-31 when he says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your sould and with all your mind and with all your strength." And then he continues, "Love your neighbor as yourself." According to Jesus, living a life of spiritual health is living a life with a commitment to love...God first, and others second.

God has given you a great gift in your teenager. And he's called you to intentionally take the time to raise and nurture your kids in their relationships with God. Many who do this will see their kids grow into spiritual health and maturity. But I also know that we can't force our kids to love, honor and obey God. We can't carry them kicking and screaming into God's kingdom. They are human beings created by God with the ability to make their own choices. For many families, consistent spiritual nurturing doesn't bear fruit in the kids' lives until long after they've entered adulthood. But still, you've been given a specific amount of time to build these values into your children as best you can.

Do you want your teenagers to grow up to be strong in their faith and able to handle all that our world throws at them? Then the first thing to ask yourself is, "What kind of example am I giving them?" This is a question that has the potential to cut us to the core. But...how can we ask our kids to go where we have never been? Where you're at as a parent plays a more significant role in determining what your kids will become than any other factor. You've got to be where you want your kids to be because they'll follow your example.

In Deuteronomy 6, Moses shares God's plan for who should teach God's truths to succeeding generations and how they were to be taught: "These commandments that I give to you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them to your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates." (Deut. 6:6-9)

Who should teach God's truths? Parents who have his commandments written on their hearts and gladly love God with their lives. God, in his perfect wisdom and plan, has chosen to do his work through the family. He uses the family as the primary arena for bringing people to himself. And how are parents to teach? With a diligent commitment to model wholehearted, single minded devotion to God. When God's truths become the central, overriding interest and purpose in our lives, teaching them to our kids will happen almost unconsciously.

So the first step in helping your teenager become a young man or woman after God's heart is to become one yourself. Search the Scriptures for His truth and then begin to live out His truth in your everyday. When your kids see you modeling God's love and truth, they will have a much easier time understanding it and making it a part of who they are.