Our Worldview and Our Identity in Christ

As my wife and I await the arrival of our child, we have the fortunate chance to be studying Ted Tripp's Shepherding a Child's Heart in our Sunday School class. In it, it speaks of addressing the heart or sin issues that underlie the child's behavior--understanding not only the what of the behavior, but the why.

This week I was thinking of the importance of the Gospel in raising up a child in the way that he should go but in addition the importance of the Gospel in forming that child's worldview. We certainly cannot prepare a child for EVERY single situation that the child might face, nor can we shield the child from every bad thing. A proper and full understanding of the Gospel is key to giving the child the tools and framework he needs by the time he leaves home.

To give an example (and this may be a sore spot for some), the subject of drinking. Simply telling a child that he shouldn't drink alcohol because it is not a good thing as a stand-alone statement will not service them at all, not only because (as I read it) it is not borne out in the scriptures but it is not within any framework. Taught within the framework that we are put on this earth to glorify God and enjoy him forever, coupled with scriptural references to moderation (and not drinking to excess) and not causing another brother to stumble, a child can see what is proper for the situation and what is not. Giving a child precepts upon which he can address a situation is important in living the rest of his life--rules simply prefaced with "because I said so" (though there is a place for that at times) will not ultimately stick when the pressure and heat of life come upon the then-grown up adult.

How does this connect with our identity in Christ? A proper understanding of the Gospel informs the child to find his security and who he is in Christ, not in the things or pleasures of this world, or the affections or attentions of others. Even in Christian homes do children grow up to be insecure, for they are not shown the full riches of the Gospel (this is more rooted in an incomplete understanding of our adoption in Christ, but that is another post)! I admit that until I came to Reformed Theology I did not fully comprehend grace or the sovereignty of God; for me it adjusted my worldview where worry was no longer a part of who I was and my desire for glorifying God (through the continuous help of the Holy Spirit) became stronger because of this new understanding.

Preach the Gospel to your kids daily by your words and actions, confronting their hearts and shaping their minds so that they might give glory to God as a first response, even when they have left the home.

Let us make this our prayer, modeling it for our children (taken from Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Readings):

"Lord, help me to glorify thee; I am poor, help me to glorify thee by contentment; I am sick, help me to give thee honour by patience; I have talents, help me to extol thee by spending them for thee; I have time, Lord, help me to redeem it, that I may serve thee; I have a heart to feel, Lord, let that heart feel no love but thine, and glow with no flame but affection for thee; I have a head to think, Lord, help me to think of thee and for thee; thou hast put me in this world for something, Lord, show me what that is, and help me to work out my life-purpose: I cannot do much, but as the widow put in her two mites, which were all her living, so, Lord, I cast my time and eternity too into thy treasury; I am all thine; take me, and enable me to glorify thee now, in all that I say, in all that I do, and with all that I have."