Living Their Best Lives
- Cathrine Schmelzer
- May 31, 2024
- 2 min read
“Jesus’s ways bring abundant life… doesn’t it just make sense, then, to lead your children to Jesus?”
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
There’s this lie that runs through my head from time to time. That I’m not doing the “right” things for my kids. That their lives would be happier if we did more things. We don’t have pets, we don’t vacation much, we have to limit the sports the kids get to play. There’s a whole list of material items that my kids don’t have that I know they wish they had. Number one on the list being phones.
I hear this little voice telling me that I need to try harder to give them a better life, and sometimes I almost fall for it. But I know it’s the enemy talking to me, whispering these things, telling me that I should give my kids everything they want and that I’m not being a good mom. In order to give my kids more things, I would need to go back to work, which is not what God has called me to do. It would lead me to disobedience.
My calling as a mother isn’t to give my kids society’s version of a happy childhood. Proverbs 22 gives parents a guide on what the actual right thing to do for your kids is.
Train your children in the way they should go.
That’s what parents should focus on. When the lie starts creeping in, telling you your kids aren’t “living their best lives”, ask yourself what their best life actually looks like. What do you want for your children? Happiness and joy? Peace? Love? Abundance? Jesus’s ways bring abundant life… doesn’t it just make sense, then, to lead your children to Jesus? How can they have true joy, peace and love, which are fruits of the Spirit, without the Spirit?
The truth is, the best thing a parent can do for their child is to teach them about Jesus. It’s one of the few things parents can do that is completely free, but it’s by far the most rewarding. With Jesus, our children can truly live their best lives.
Action Steps:
What can you do to lead your child to Jesus? (Tell them Jesus loves them, prayer, take them to church, read scripture with them, do children’s devotionals and Bible studies) Make a list if you need to!
Make sure you’re checking in with your children (if they’re old enough), make sure they’re understanding the need for Jesus in their lives. Check in often to make sure their path is going toward Jesus.
Read John 10:10 and Galatians 5:22-23
Prayer: Jesus, my children need You. And I need You as their parent. Show me how to lead them to You. I pray that my actions train my children the way they should go, and as they grow, that they don’t depart from You. Amen.
Written by Cathrine, training 4 Jesus followers