Shepherding a Child's Heart

(^) I can hear my reader object, “What if my children are not
believers?” We will address this later, but for the moment, do you
suppose we should teach unbelievers to disobey the law of God? Is
not God’s standard applicable to all, regardless of whether they
believe? Do we dare give the mechanisms and approaches that help
them learn to manipulate their world without God? Such things will
only drive them away from Christ.
(^) If you faithfully hold out God’s standard, you are keeping before
them the Law of God that is a schoolmaster to take them to Christ.
Faced with being kind to one who abuses you, there is nowhere to go
but to God, who alone can enable a person to respond in love. When
your child’s heart desires revenge, when she must love an enemy,
when her faith demands she leave room for God’s justice—there is no
place to go but to the cross. She will not be able to embrace these
things without embracing Christ. Thus, you are always pointing to
Christ and his work, power, and grace.
(^) Getting help from Christ was powerfully illustrated in the life of
our daughter. As a ninth grader she seemed to get on the wrong side
of her Spanish teacher. Through four years of high school she
struggled with feeling angry over being sinned against. We spent
many hours talking about how to respond. We discussed the
impossibility of her loving this lady apart from God’s grace. We
encouraged her to find hope, strength, consolation, and comfort in
Christ. One day, when she was a senior, my wife observed a note in
the margin of Heather’s Bible making application of Romans 12 to
her relationship with her Spanish teacher. She worked through the
spiritual disciplines necessary to know Christ’s help in this daily
struggle.
(^) Teaching your children to live for the glory of God must be your
overarching objective. You must teach your children that for them, as
for all of mankind, life is found in knowing and serving the true and
living God. The only worthy goal for life is to glorify God and enjoy