Your Faith Does Make A Difference for Your Kids
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
If you’re like me, you want desperately to pass your faith onto your children.
Yet sometimes we wonder if we’re getting through. Or are we only going through the motions. We hear God’s Word but choose what we want to obey.
This morning, I got a Medscape news release that gave me another reason to be serious about my faith. These are medical — not Christian — researchers.
Investigators found an 80 percent lower risk for suicidal thoughts or attempts for kids whose parents placed a high value on religion. This study was released August 8, 2018 in the Journal of American Medical Association Psychiatry.
Here’s the catch: attending religious services didn’t make a statistical difference. The parent’s commitment to living out his or her faith made the difference.
Take away truth: Your kids know if you’re just going through the motions. You must practice what you preach. If you’re telling your kids one thing and doing another, your actions speak louder.
Of course, none of us will be perfect. But when our kids see us genuinely seeking God and repenting over our sins, they know we really believe.
The “kids” in this study ranged between age 6 and 18. That tells me our teens are still watching us — even when they roll their eyes.
So I’m going to keep having conversations with my teens about how we put our faith into practice. We don’t want many current TV shows in our house. Our boys give us a hard time about this. However, for us, it’s a way we practice our faith. We can’t justify watching sin.
Our two teen boys also help us teach third-grade Sunday school. Instead of hanging out with peers, they learn to serve and mentor younger kids. We don’t make them do this — it’s a choice they’ve made.
How do you practice your faith with your children?
Stacy
