Insanity Of Discipleship Part 2

 During this time of waiting on my doctor's appointment at Emory Hospital, I have had a ton of time to reflect what, why, and how's of life. Why do I do the things that I do? Why do I do those things? How do I put all of those things into action?

During this part two of Insanity of Discipleship, I am going to take another look at family, but from another angle. It is easy to disciple your children if they love the same things that you do. It is easy to disciple a child in the fundamentals of soccer if you love soccer (which I do love soccer). It is easy to disciple a child in the truths of God's Word if they are an obedient child of God. They should be convicted of sin. They should want to read their Bible, and grow in their knowledge of Him. They should want to go to church, and grow alongside other believers.

As most normal intelligent people would agree that it is much easier trying to raise a Christian family if your whole family has been saved by God's grace. But, what if that isn't the case? What if you have some family members that are not believers? What if you have children that are not children of God?

Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." Let's couple this verse with Matthew 28:19-20, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

I would like to focus on two words from these passages: train and teaching. Not everyone learns in the same way. Not everyone has the same spiritual gift. Not everyone has the same temperament. Not everyone has the same love language (my wife and I are complete opposites on that). Why is all of this important? There is a time to sit down, read, and teach the Word of God, but there is also a time to be creative. It is important to realize that not all of your children are going to learn at the same pace. They are going to learn differently.

No one knows the discipleship path that your children are going to take. Some may get saved at 5 years old. Others may get saved when they are 65 years old. As parents, we are called disciple (train and teach) our children. It never gives a time table. You are called to fight for your children. Be the bigger person and ask for forgiveness. The world is teaching our kids to hate everything God. We have model God's attributes, so that we can spur them towards a relationship with Him.

Luke, I take my family to church. I don't allow this, and I do allow this. All of these things are good, but I would like to close out with a few passages of Scripture to try to bring everything back to home plate. 

1 Corinthians 13 - It doesn't matter what we do as parents if it is all done in self righteousness and moralism. God's grace must be bigger than our good works. A child may spill a glass of sweet tea at dinner time. In eternity, it is not that big of a deal. Our reaction, to this small thing, could be a negative or positive memory for the rest of that child's life.

Ephesians 6:4 - As parents, we may tend to slip up from time to time. We are human. As parents, we must also be quick to seek forgiveness and reconciliation.

Proverbs 22:6 - (I know I am repeating this) As parents, we must teach our children, young or old, God's truths. We cannot do this unless we are diving into God's word. We cannot teach them beyond what we know.

Action Points:

1. Love your children, not their sin.

2. Be quick to seek forgiveness, and accept forgiveness.

3. Discipleship isn't over just because your children may be adults.