I’ve asked this question: “Did you grow up in a Christian Home?” to dozens of friends over the years as I learn their story of how they came to faith in Christ.
The response to this question is normally the same:
“Well, we went to church but that was about as much ‘Christianity’ that was in our home. I didn’t see my parents live out their faith. I didn’t see them read their bibles. And going to church was just the thing to do, but didn’t really change how my parents lived.”
Oh friends, let our children NOT say this about us!
Let’s live our faith out in every area of our life! Let’s not make our faith a Sunday only thing!
If an agnostic said they were a Sunday only agnostic and every other day of the week they believed there was a God, we’d laugh!
But friends, isn’t that what we do when we go to church on Sunday, yet live the other 6 days of our lives for ourselves?
Let us make family worship part of every day. (Family worship doesn’t have to be a big daunting task, but reading a few verses to your kids, talking about what they mean, singing a song together, and prayer!)
Let us train our kids in spiritual disciplines! Show your children what quiet time looks like, show them how you do it, help them realize and see the pure delight that comes from being in the Word daily!
Let us live in harmony with one another in the 4 walls of our house. Let us think of others above ourselves, starting with our husbands and children (or brothers and sisters).
Let us not tell our kids to do one thing, but do something else yourself. Double standards and hypocrisy will turn your children far away from the Lord!
My prayer is when the boys are older and someone asks, “Did you grow up in a Christian home?” They say, “Yes, my parents were the real deal. They loved Jesus on Sunday morning and they loved Jesus on Tuesday afternoon. They believed the Word of God and tried to obey it! They weren’t one way with one person and then another way with another person. They didn’t gossip or slander people. They weren’t critical of others who had different personal convictions than our family. They trained us in godliness and righteousness. They cared more about our hearts than our grades or sporting ability. They loved each other with a love that overflowed from their own love of God. They were always growing, never content to stop trying to be more like Christ. They read their bible every day and showed me the treasure that is in God’s Word. And most of all they laid it all down for the sake of Christ, no matter what, because they cared more about the things of God, than things of this world!”
Only through and by God’s grace will that be their answer!
