If Jesus Were a Dad – Part Two
Let’s get down to the nuts and bolts of why I think discipling our children is far easier than we’ve made it out to be.
First off, discipleship starts with someone taking the lead, just as Jesus did with His disciples. He positioned Himself to take them on a journey – a journey of spiritual learning, understanding and awakening.
Now, Jesus had supernatural powers that you and I don’t. He could have just “zapped” His disciples into knowing and understanding all that He needed them to know. But He didn’t. He was very intentional about the process. And the process is really very simple.
STEP ONE - Lead (and model)
Leadership requires that you are actually going somewhere. A teacher is not necessarily a leader.
I can teach (or tell) you lots of things about playing a guitar. But if I never show you a guitar or play one for you, most of what I say will probably make little sense.
Jesus not only taught the disciples, but He modeled for them what He intended them to do.
As parents, this is a critical piece of our ability to disciple our children. We cannot expect them to do what we are not doing.
I made a rule at my house a couple of years ago that everyone had to eat something green at every dinner (boogers excluded). The problem with that rule, was that I never ate green vegetables. But I knew that if I expected my boys to do what I was expecting of them that I was going to have to do it too. I had to not only say it, but I had to model it too.
It’s been a tough row to hoe, eating all those green veggies, but I’ve done it. And now my kids are great veggie eaters. I just thank God that I never had to model eating broccoli for them. They were both willing to do that without me leading the way.
Here’s the deal, though, folks. If we are going to model being disciples for our kids, we have to position ourselves to continuously be discipled.
If you want your kids to grow into mature, reproducing followers of Jesus, the first thing you’ve got to get straight is how you, yourself, are growing into a mature, reproducing follower of Jesus.
If it’s not happening in your life, fat chance it will ever happen in the lives of your kids.
Period. End of sentence.
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