Teaching our Children

Being a dad now for close to 9 years has been exciting, brought me great joy, and has many challenges. I know I am not the world's best father, which drives me to always grow and improve, but I also know by the grace of God, I am not the world's worst father. As my beloved and I have been praying and talking homeschool with our children and I have been reminded many times over the last few weeks, I must teach and train my children. I must teach my children about God, Salvation, the church, the world, freindship, love, and the list can go on. As I have been praying and [plead with God to make me a better teacher to my children He has pointed out 3 important areas I need to improve in and I think many parents need to improve in. To teach our children is to love them and loving them requires 3 important things.

1-Time
Yes the quality of time matters and the argument that the quality is more important that time could be in fact true. But what if the quality was always good and just the time amount needed to improve. We can give our children time by always having them with us when we can or also by setting aside certain time each week to focus just on them. Either way our kids want to know that we know they are their and that they matter. Remember that God, as our Father, will always give us time and even when we were His enemies, He gave us the most important time of His life, His death. 


2-Genuinness
Our kids know when we are fake. Our kids know when we are distracted. My children always love it when I am honest and they love it even more when I say I am sorry. Being the big all perfect never making a mistake father does not work. We are sinful humans that need more of God's grace every day. What better way for our children to learn about God's grace that by seeing it in our need and through our eyes. We need to be genuine with our children no matter what. 


3-The heart
Finally, we need to love our children and teach them in their hearts. We need to nurture, grow, protect, and train our children's hearts for loving God and others. We can fill our kids head with knowledge but only through the heart will they be saved and learn to love others like Jesus.