Kids Are People Too!

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I know being a Christian parent can feel exhausting and overwhelming. There are so many areas that require our energy and attention. The responsibilities can seem endless. Things like:

Leading our children in the way they should go
Meeting their physical, emotional and spiritual needs
Protecting them from harm
Teaching, training and helping them mature
Directing their education
Praying for them

Thankfully, when God gives us an assignment He always provides the wisdom and grace we need to successfully complete it.

Fulfilling this enormous assignment to raise our children for the Lord in our own strength is impossible. That’s why we have to lean on Him and draw from His strength.

In my own mama journey I’ve found one of the keys to walking this out in my daily life is to thoughtfully consider how Jesus relates to children and adopt His ways and attitudes towards them.

In Mark 10:13-16 we get a glimpse of how Jesus thought about children. There was a group of people bringing children to Jesus for His blessing. His disciples tried to stop them, but Jesus insisted they allow the children to come to Him.

He said, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Then He took them in His arms and blessed them.

Many times we see children as a burden, something that keeps us from living our best life. And, yes, children are a lot of work! But they are designed to be. And tending to children is a ministry and a blessing, not an inconvenience.

Like Jesus’ disciples, we too can see children as obstacles keeping us from the work we need to accomplish or the things we want to do.. But our work will take on a whole new meaning if we humble ourselves and see children through the eyes of Christ.

C.S. Lewis said, “Children are not a distraction from important work. They are the important work.”

Jesus had time for the children. He didn’t see Himself or His work as so important that He couldn’t stop to spend a moment with them. He treated them with love and respect. He told His disciples they could learn a lot about the Kingdom from children.

When we take on the attitude of Christ towards children we start seeing them as blessings instead of burdens. They become gifts to enjoy instead of problems to solve.

As a mom, it’s crucial that we take on the mind of Christ concerning our children. We can be so busy doing all the important things that we don’t see the important people right in front of us.

Yes, I know being a mom is exhausting and the work is never ending. But when we see the ones we’re serving through Heaven’s eyes the weight of the work gets lighter. Love knows no sacrifice. It’s patient and kind. Taking time to actually see our children for the people they are helps us to serve them out of love and not just duty. It gives the work of motherhood a whole new meaning and purpose.

As a young mom I was on a mission to find out how to raise my children for God. My heart’s greatest desire was that my children would know and love Him. As moms we have great influence over our children. There are many things we can do to help them in the area of faith. But we can’t make them believe. We can’t make anyone believe.

I believed it is my responsibility to raise my children for the Lord, but I was having a hard time figuring out exactly what that looks like. How does that look in daily life?

Some of the early Christian parenting books I read seemed to imply that parents must emphasize to their children the need to obey above all else and at all costs. They also seemed to imply that not punishing children who do not obey quickly and without delay is the equivalent of not loving God and not loving your child.

There was a conflict going on inside of me as I read these ideas. I wanted to obey God and raise my children for Him. But I don’t respond well to harshness myself. It was the kindness of God that led me to repentance. (Romans 2:4) It was the love of God that drew me to Him.

Surely the same was true for my children.

The thoughts of a harsh, angry father disciplining me every time I did something wrong made me want to run from him, not run to him.

That’s when the story of Jesus lovingly drawing children to Himself and blessing them helped me to see His way of dealing with them through a different lens. Surely, Jesus is our best example of how to relate to people. Jesus treated children like they were people. This gave me courage to try another way.

I decided to treat my children the way I want to be treated, with kindness and respect.

As I changed my approach, even in the middle of correcting them, my children started responding better to my instruction. When they knew that I was for them, that I was their safe place, that they could come to me even when they had messed up, they trusted me with their heart.

When a child trusts you with their heart, you can influence them for good. That approach is so much more successful than trying to control their behavior with harshness and fear of punishment..

When we try to make our children obey us because they fear punishment, they won’t trust us with their heart. They will actually shut off their hearts from us to protect themselves. We can’t influence them for God if we don’t have their hearts.

I found that by adopting Jesus’ attitude toward children, by treating my children as people, it made my job of training and instructing them so much easier. When their hearts are open to you, so are their ears. They pay attention to the things you say to them. They want to please you instead of hiding from you.

I believe this is how God designed discipleship between parents and children to work. When we humble ourselves to see our children as people, God can do amazing things in our homes.

God Bless!

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