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The Goal of Parenting, part 2

Throughout GBCK's parenting series we've been asking ourselves, What is it the goal of parenting?  The answer, based on Deuteronomy 6:5, is to teach our children to love God.

But how do you teach them to love God?  Isn't teaching best done by a professional?  How can I teach my child about loving God when I don't know anything myself?  Don't I need to know the Bible?

I realize that teaching a child to love God may seem scary.  Yet, we are to "teach these things diligently."

Let me offer a beginning point.  A really smart, dead guy once said something to this effect: You cannot fully love God until you fully understand what he did for you. And once we understand what God did for us, we understand how much he loves us, and once we understand how much he loves us our response is to love him back.

So, what did God do for us?

A couple months ago Julie took the boys to Ko'olina for a swim (thanks to furlough Fridays).  The kids were in the water and she was a little ways up on the sand.  She suddenly realized that she couldn't see Aaron, 3 years-old at the time.  All she could see was his little hand waving above the water in what she immediately recognized as a call for help.  She raced into the water and pulled him above the surface.  Thankfully, he wasn't under for more than a few seconds.  He was o.k.

See, this is what God did for us.  He came to earth on a rescue mission.  Just like Aaron, we are helpless to save ourselves and we need a savior.  However, the similarities stop here.  When God came to rescue us, he not only rescued us from death because of our sin, he became sin and died in our place.

So, the beginning point in teaching our kids to love God is to bring them to an understanding of the deadliness of sin.  Sound morbid?  Absolutely, because sin is morbid.  But, once we understand the sacrifice behind God's love, our response is to love him back.  If we don't connect God's love to his sacrifice then what we're left with is an ooey-gooey, Hollywood, I'm o.k., you're o.k. kind of love that's like a marshmallow: really sweet but no substance.

In part 3 I'll give some thoughts about how to talk about sin with our kids.