One common issue on the minds of most Christian parents today is how to answer a child's questions and navigate conversations around sex, sexuality, and gender issues. Maybe these were even the driving force behind you starting this track. While those types of Q&A conversations are important, we need to keep in mind that we should prepare ourselves prior to the first time our kids are confronted with them. We need to be proactive instead of reactive to the things that are happening in our world and the repercussions of our children being exposed to them. Our kids hear something at school promoting an idea that is not aligned with Biblical truth, they see something sexual on the internet, they overhear something on the bus and now they bring their questions to you to navigate and explain for them. While it is good that they came to discuss these issues with a parent, an even better approach is a proactive, rather than a reactive approach. We want to help you take a more proactive approach by creating a God-centered, biblical training plan for your children so that even before issues and questions come up, you have already built a healthy biblical framework that will be an incredible help to you and your children as they grow older and face increasing pressures from middle school, high school, and college.

Before people set out to start a new business, the partners usually sit down to work out a few very important questions such as: What is our vision for this business? What is the end goal? Where are we going? What is our product? What does success or winning look like? What do we value, elevate & prioritize above all else? It is from these types of questions that a business can begin to determine its direction, core values, and convictions, and the culture of the company begins to take shape. Solidifying the answers to these types of questions will be very helpful because it will simplify decision-making, budgeting, hiring, and many other aspects. This helps those responsible to stay focused, allocate resources wisely, and not get distracted, pursue the wrong missions, or spread too thin. This is also true when it comes to family and parenting. The Bible lays out that your number one priority as a parent is to point your children towards God and to raise them in the knowledge, wisdom, and instruction of the Lord. The good news for parents is that all the lessons, knowledge, and instruction needed are found in God's Word. Here are three examples of ways we as parents can begin today to use God's word to actively point the next generation to Christ.

1. Focus on your child’s heart over their behavior.
Jeremiah 1:5 tells us that just like you, your child has a heart that God formed and knit together in the womb. They are known to God, set apart, and given a purpose. The goal of parenting is not simply to control their behavior, but rather to facilitate heart and life change over time. Behavior is a result of an overflow of the heart, so much more important than behavior is what fills up your child's heart. Just like you, your child is a worshiper and what rules their heart will ultimately control their behavior. Many parents only focus on the symptoms, but never on the source of those symptoms which is the heart. Hearts can be molded, changed, and formed to be like Christ through love, grace, truth, mercy, and obedience to God. No parent gives mercy better than one who is convinced that he or she desperately needs it. Once again, remember that the goal is not behavior modification. The goal is a change of heart to be more like Christ. This is change and a part of spiritual growth that always happens from the inside out.

2. Don’t sacrifice the important things on the altar of the urgent.
Children watch what you do far more than they listen to what you say. They see how you spend your time, what you prioritize, and what you speak highly of. They see how you deal with what is important and what is urgent. Besides having kids, parents also have careers, responsibilities, bills, and busy schedules. Often, parents willingly sacrifice important things on the altar of what is urgent, and if you sacrifice what is important because of what is urgent, your children will grow up doing this as well. If you don't prioritize the things of God, then they won’t prioritize prayer, church, the word, witnessing, or serving. The urgency of life will carve away spiritual growth. In this way, you don’t just tell your children that you love God, you show them you love God with your actions. With that said, pray, read God's Word, treat your spouse with honor, be an authentic person, and admit your mistakes. Ask yourself: Am I showing my kids that Christ is a part of my life, or just telling them that he should be a part of theirs? This begins with recognizing what is truly important and what is only urgent, pretending to be important and making the right choice as often as you can.

3. Communicate that the best possible life your kids could live is a life spent following God's purpose.
Paul tells us in Philippians 3:8 that whatever was gained to him he now considers them garbage when compared to the value of knowing Christ and walking in his purpose for your life. Often, we as parents communicate that pursuing God is good, but we can also pursue self as well. We can live for God and live for ourselves at the same time. One of the most important things we can do as parents is to celebrate the beauty of authority and submit to God's plans and purposes instead of our own. One of the foundational heart issues in the life of every child is authority and whether to submit or reject it. One major role of parents is to teach and model to their kids not just to tolerate authority, but to celebrate Godly authority and the freedom found in it.

Would you like to go deeper? Click the link to watch this True North resource on “Parenting and Spiritual Warfare”.