Deuteronomy 6:5, Very important, the Bible says this. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your strength.” Love your God. With how much of your heart should you love God? Notice, the scripture does not say with some, or with a little bit, or with a percentage, but we are told to love God with all of our heart. But wouldn’t you agree that many, if not most of us, we love God with a little bit of our hearts, and one of the most dangerous things that we can do as parents is expose our children to just a little bit of God.
Let me explain to you why. Whenever I go to get a flu shot once a year so I don’t get the flu, and inevitably, the nurse knows me and gets to see that I am a weeny when it comes to getting shots. I try to act all brave and she pulls out the needle, like, “Okay, try not to shake.” She gives me the shot, and what did she actually put into my body? To keep me from getting the flu, she gives me what? A little bit of the flu. Just a little bit, which makes me immune to the whole thing, and I would argue that as parents, so many parents unknowingly give their children just a little bit of the things of God, making them immune to all of His goodness and glory and power and majesty. They find themselves knowing just a little bit about God, but not knowing God personally and intimately in a life-changing way.
Scripture teaches us we should love God with all of our heart. Now, the problem is, let’s just be honest. In the world that we live in, there are a lot of things that can distract us from loving God with all of our own heart. You know, as parents, as a dad, you know, I want to provide for my kid, and so many of us, we think to ourselves with good intentions, “If I can just give my kids more than I had growing up, then that will be very valuable for them.” So, we work so hard pouring ourselves into our careers trying to get more things when yet, we are not giving our children what they really need, which is us and a deeper relationship with the only One they need to really know ultimately is God, and God alone.
We want to provide them the best opportunity, so we get them in soccer, and ballet, and in gymnastics, and all of a sudden, we organize their schedule so they are so busy. And we work hard so we can have a nice car to transport them in, so they will be safe, and their little booties will sit in leather seats. And then, when they are sixteen, we want to make sure that they can get a car because not having a car at sixteen would be like borderline child abuse for our children. Right? Yeah. And then we want to save up so they can get the greatest education, and before long, if we are not careful, we become child-centered parents rather than God-centered parents. Our lives revolve around our children rather than revolving around God.
Does your life revolve around your children or does it revolve around God?
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