Why do my kids need to develop a relationship with God?

We need to explain to our children the importance of developing a relationship with God. Without that explanation, our children can get the idea that the whole activity is just some religious thing that you want them to do sot hat they'll behave themselves.

We need to explain to our children that God wants to be the most awesome loving Father they can possibly imagine. He wants to help them in every possible way. Have your children imagine the benefits of being a child of the richest, most powerful, and wisest person who ever lived, who also happens to be the greatest parent who ever lived.

This means that we also need to let our children know that God created us with the right to choose and the ability to learn and grow, to excel and succeed. God didn't make us robots. He creted us as his children, with dignity and honor. But with that dignity and privilege comes the responibility to learn and to grow.

God created many parts of life in which we, like artists, are free to express individuality and personal differences and tastes. But in order for our lives to be secure and happy, he created many things that are foundational, that give our lives a framework. Gravity isn't just a nice idea; it's a law without which life couldn't function. Yes, it limits the directions in which we can fall to a single one: down. But it's that very limitation that keeps us from having to float after anything we happen to let go of, freeing us up to do more important things.

Similarly, God has given foundational principles for things like behavior, attitude, character, and relationships- rules that, if followed, free us up to be the best person we can be. He wants us to learn and understand these principles so that we can experience the awesome privilege that he gave us when he created us- for us to be his children and for him to be our Father. His plan wasn't to create us and then disappear; his plan was to be with us and to help us learn and grow, achieve and be happy. He gave us life, but he also gave us himself as our Father so that we could learn from him. After all, we're made like him.