Joey and Carla Link
March 27, 2024
I heard a pastor tell a story about how he was talking to a large group of college age young adults at their weekly service. This particular week he was talking about how God is a loving Heavenly Father. After the meeting, a couple of these young adults came to him and confessed they had a difficult time seeing God as a good and loving father because when they hear the word “father”, they only think about how unloving and unkind their earthly fathers were to them.
How your kids grow to view God will have a direct correlation to how your kids view you. If you want your kids to develop a view of God as a loving, kind Father then you, as either mother or father need to present to them the picture of who God is and how He loves us.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16
When God decided He needed to have His only child die a humiliating death that anyone could watch, He was acting as both a father and as the one in charge of the entire universe, the universe that He created. Most of us know what that is like to some extent – where you have to make decisions for the “greater good” that hurt you or people you love.
With Jesus’ death, God taught us what sacrificial love looks like, an unselfish display of affection.
Here are a few ways you can portray that to your kids.
1. God loves us so much He sent His Son to die for us. How do parents show sacrificial, unselfish love to their kids? You give your kids your undivided attention and listen to them when they want to talk. You don’t guilt your kids into doing what you want, you tell them to do it and deal with them if they don’t. You go to every game, music, drama and other activities your kids are involved in no matter how tired you are. You think these are no big deals? To your kids they are really big deals.
2. God keeps His promises to us. “For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. You rule throughout all generations. The Lord always keeps his promises; he is gracious in all he does.” God made sure to put this scripture in the bible with great intentions in mind.” Psalm 145:13. When you don’t keep your promises to your kids, they think you lied to them and that is not the impression you want to stay with them, perhaps for years to come.
4. God wants to spend time with us. Just as God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden, parents should look to spend quality time with their kids without their phones in their hands or pockets. God gave us a book to read to get to know Him, who He is, and to show us His power and faithfulness. Help your kids get to know God by reading the Bible to them and talk about what you have just read. Once they are able to read by themselves, help them plan a consistent time where they will spend time with God every day by reading the Bible and talking to Him in prayer.
This is how we know what love is:
“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us,
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”
I John 3:16