“Love the Lord your God with all your heart.”
-Matthew 22:37
So as I sit here this morning I have Silas laying on the couch beside me, smiling away just enjoying life. Here he is just making noises, following different lights around the room with his eyes, and just being content. As I stare down at him, my mind can’t help but wander and think, does he know that I love him? Does he translate when daddy says, “I love you little man?” Does he have a grasp to that when I pick him up to comfort him when he cries? Our older son Eli is now a little over 2 years old and starting to say, “I love you” back to us when we say it. You can also tell in his actions that he is now grasping the love from Linds and I. When he runs up to us at the end of the day excited that we are home from work, or after being gone for a few days and asking the question, “Daddy come home yet?” He gets it!
Yet my mind also starts to contemplate the question, I wonder if they can understand my love for God? Because you see, to me, that is even more important that them knowing that I love them. I want them to know and understand the love of God from my example. I want them to know and truly grasp that it is more important for me to love and serve God as my number one priority even over loving them. That may sound harsh and countercultural, but it is biblical. Loving God first.
Now don’t get me wrong I would do absolutely anything for my kids, I love them more than I knew was humanly possible. I would sacrifice myself for them. I hate seeing when they are in pain or sick, and my heart breaks for them. But the bottom line here is, my kids are not my God and I want them to know that. I would venture to say though that for many of us we have allowed our kids to take that role in our lives. Instead of leading them towards Christ and living a righteous life we have allowed our kids to become the guiding light and determining factor in our lives instead of seeking God’s wisdom. We have honestly flipped the roles around when it comes to faith. We have placed our kids on the throne, and then made God number 2. Hear me please on this as I have been completely convicted on this in my own life and still struggle with what this will look like as Eli and Silas get older. I am not here to be there friend, I am not here or designed to serve them, I am here, designed and created to be their dad and show them what it means to love God first and foremost. Will it mean at times they get upset with me for having biblical rules in our household? Without a doubt. Will it mean at times they think I am old fashioned, most likely. Will it also mean that they get to understand the grace of God because of my love for God first and then allowing that to translate into my love for them? That is my hope and goal.
When my boys grow up I want them to understand that they have a daddy and mommy who love them. But for Lindsey and I, ultimately we want our kids to know that we love God first. We want our boys to grow up understanding that our love for God drives our decisions, not our love for them. God first, then the boys. We want our boys to grow up able to say that their mommy and daddy love Jesus more than life itself.
What about you? Do your kids know that you love God even more than them? Or are they on the throne in your life? I am not trying to sound harsh with this but this answer will determine how you raise your kids. Is it about them or about God himself?