God-First Parenting: Live a Faith Worth Copying

The only question is who is doing it? Who's influencing your kids the most? Is it screens? Is it technology? Is it social media? Is it their friends? Is it their coaches? Is it their mentors? Is it their teachers? Now, not all those things are bad in and of themselves. I'm not saying that. But it does not mean they are rooted in Christ and the truth of his word. You are your children's main influence to disciple them to Jesus, More so than even the church. God didn't call the church to replace parents. [00:43:34] (32 seconds)  #ParentingIsDiscipleship

Follow me as I follow. Kids don't imitate instructions. They imitate devotion. And, again, this is not perfection. This is not performance. This is direction that we are going in the right direction with our lives. First John, he says, let's not just love with our words, but in deed and direction, meaning our actions. Proverbs tells us train up a child in the way that they should go. Training means we're dedicating ourselves to something, setting the direction with our own lives. [00:47:54] (31 seconds)  #ModelTheFaith

This is so much deeper than just what to do. There there's obviously a place to teach what, but this is more than that. Because if we only teach rules, they will need us forever. If we teach wisdom, they can walk with God on their own. So how do we teach wisdom? Well, scriptures tell us that if you walk with the wise, you will become wise. So if we are growing as parents, if we are growing in wisdom, it starts with us, then that will overflow to our kids. [00:59:04] (28 seconds)  #TeachWisdomNotRules

It doesn't say schedule a class for your kid. It says live your life every day. Live it where your kids can see it. Live faith where they can actually see it. Faith was meant to be modeled. Because before it's ever taught, it has to first be lived. And Jesus tells us in Matthew that if you are a believer, you are called to make disciples, meaning you're called to help people follow Jesus. [00:42:25] (28 seconds)  #LiveYourFaith

Because Paul, he didn't have kids, but he still thought this way. Follow me as I follow Christ. Can you lay that over your own life? Can you look at the people closest to you in your life and go, hey. I know you don't have this whole God thing figured out. I don't either, but I do know this. Just follow me as I follow Christ, and you're gonna get closer to Christ. [00:47:10] (23 seconds)  #ModelChrist

Because one of the main ways God transforms the way we think is through his word. Jesus modeled this perfectly when he was being tempted in the desert by the devil. He was being tempted, and Jesus fought back those temptations to be conformed by standing on the truth of scripture. He aligned his thinking with God's word, not the other way around. [01:01:09] (22 seconds)  #StandOnScripture

And God first parenting, it doesn't mean you get it right every time. It means when you fail, you learn how to run to the father who's waiting for you. And then as you do that, you're modeling that same thing to your kids that when they fail, when they're going through problems, when they're going through trouble, they know, okay, I'm gonna turn back to the father. [01:11:28] (19 seconds)  #RunToTheFather

Have you ever noticed kids don't imitate instructions. They mainly imitate actions. Now they may do what you say because they know there's repercussions if they don't, and they're gonna get something taken away. But who they actually like, the things that kinda come out of them naturally isn't really based on the things you've told them. It's more of how you have lived your life. [00:45:22] (24 seconds)  #ActionsOverWords