Our Children

He planted a witness in Jacob,
set his Word firmly in Israel,
Then commanded our parents
to teach it to their children
So the next generation would know,
and all the generations to come—
Know the truth and tell the stories
so their children can trust in God,
Never forget the works of God
but keep his commands to the letter.
Heaven forbid they should be like their parents,
bullheaded and bad,
A fickle and faithless bunch
who never stayed true to God.
Psalms 78:5-8 (Message)

Throughout the Bible, it speaks of passing things on to your children. The truth is that some things we can choose to pass on intentionally, and other things are passed on unintentionally. With or without our help, our children will pick things up from their parents.

Today, I took my daughter to the doctor, and they said she had swimmer's ear. I used to get that often as a child. Both of my daughters often get strep throat which I also had quite a bit as a child. While in town, I ran into a relative of mine. She couldn't help but notice how much my daughter looks like I did as a child. These are all things that I have passed on to my children without any effort on my part. That and a few other things, such as stubbornness and speaking too boldly at times.

Last week, my daughter was texting a friend of mine. I started reading her texts, and I noticed that she was giving spiritual advice. I couldn't help but think she sounded somewhat like me. I told the friend I thought that she sounded like me in her advice, and the friend said, "Yep, just like you." That is an example of something I have tried to intentionally pass on to her. I pray and hope that, through observing my actions and what I can verbally explain to her, she will grow up with strong faith and be rooted in God. It is my intention that she possess these traits from a young age rather than having to find them on her own when she is older.

The church also puts forth effort to intentionally pass faith onto children that may not even belong to them. The church itself offers programs that are specifically targeted to the child so that they may learn while they are young. At 3trees, we have hopes of a progressive program that will teach the child from birth through college. They are, after all, the future of the church. The things we pass on to them now determine how strong our church will be someday when today's children become tomorrow's leaders.

What sort of things have you passed on to your children? Do you intentionally try to teach them some of the things God has taught you in your lifetime? Do you make an effort to steer them away from lessons you have learned that are not good choices? What about the unintentional things?

Our children are going to inevitably glean both good and bad things from us. We just have to make an effort  to pass on as much of the good as we can in the process. We may not be able to determine that path for our children or the choices they make. However, we are still going to be accountable for the effort we gave while guiding them in the early ages.