Parents, How Are Our Spiritual Lives Affecting Our Children?

Are you aware that when we as parents fail to heed God’s Word, it affects our children?

Hosea 4:6 . . .  You have forgotten the teachings of your God, so I will forget your children.

This may not sound quite fair of our loving God, but God knows what is best for us and our children and He wants us to desire Him above all, if only for our children’s sakes.

Deuteronomy 5:29 “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be will with them, and with their children for ever!”

Feel God’s agonizing to get people to obey His Word because He knows it is for their good and the good of their children.

Catherine Marshall in her book, Something More,  writes, “We are accustomed to the idea that we pass on to our children a physical inheritance – color of eyes, color of hair, even certain diseases: tendencies toward gout, diabetes, certain skin diseases. Handing down a material inheritance is such standard practice that the laws of every country make careful provisions governing wills, probate, death, and inheritance taxes.  It soon became apparent that just as we can inherit either a fortune or debts, so in the spiritual realm we can inherit either spiritual blessings or those liabilities (unabashedly called ‘sins’ in scripture) that hinder our development into mature persons.  These blessings do not come to us solely by heredity.  Obviously they are also passed on by example and by teaching – conscious or unconscious.”

Andrew Murray in How to Raise Your Children for Christ wrote: “Education consists not so much in what we do or say but most of all in what we are; and that not only when our children are of an age to see and judge but long before, even before their birth.”

Seeing how we so affect our children’s lives, we should take inventory of our spiritual lives:

1.  Have I accepted Christ as Savior of your life?

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

2.  Am I confessing known sin daily?

Psalm 19:12:  “…cleanse thou me from secret faults.”

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.

I John 1:9:  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

3.  Do I value God’s Word in my life?

Job 23:12
I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.

4.  Am I spending time alone with God in prayer?

Mark 1:35:  “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He (Jesus) went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” (If this were important in Jesus’ life, how much important is it for us?)

5.  Am I letting the peace of God rule in my heart when everything around me is not peaceful?

Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Let’s take the time to read while we have been this opportunity to stay home.  I highly recommend the two books linked to above to help you see how important your relationship with God is in the life of your child.