enough to be helpful. Every six months or so, make this sort of
analysis and diagnosis of the needs of your children.
The Child in a Relationship to God
(^) The first prong of analysis is your child in relationship to God.
The question is not the personal evangelism question—does he have a
relationship with God? The question is what you discern the nature of
that relationship to be.
(^) Is your child living in a conscious need for God, and what is the
content of his relationship with God? Is he concerned to know and
love God? Is God a source of strength, comfort and help? Does he
make choices that reflect knowing God? Is he moved by God’s ways
and truth? Is he alive to spiritual realities? Is there any evidence that
he is carrying on an independent (from you as a parent) relationship
with God?
(^) Are there false gods before which your child bows? What are the
things without which he cannot be happy? What things other than
God seem to motivate him? How does he finish the sentence: “What I
really want, long for, desire, and esteem is ...is ... ?”
(^) Does he ever talk about God? How does he talk about God? How
does he think about God? Is his God small or grand? Does he think of
God as a friend, a judge, a helper, or a taskmaster? Is he living out of
the fullness of seeing himself in Christ or is he trying to worship and
serve himself?
(^) These are not questions about your child’s understanding of
biblical truth. They are questions about his understanding of the
nature of God’s grace and salvation through faith in Christ. To
shepherd his heart, to lead him to God, you must have some
perception of where he is spiritually.
The Child in Relationship to Himself
(^) How does your child think about himself? How well does he