S) "19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.'"
John 5:19-20 (NASB)
O) In this passage, Jesus is speaking to His own divinity and His descension from Heaven to Earth, but there's a lost principle in this. There is a misleading and misguided saying that goes, "Do as I say, not as I do." I think this is a terrible thing that I've seen in parenting. Now, there's something to be said about a parent making a mistake and talking to the child and admitting the mistake and advising against repeating, but this phrase is all-to-often used as a cop-out. Going all the way back into the Old Testiment, God wanted parents, and specifically fathers, to lead by example. We fathers must show our children how to live, not simply tell them how to live. Now, I imagine there are a lot of fathers who do a good job as examples to their kids, while the kids are around (awake, home, etc.), but notice what the beginning of verse 20 says, "and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing;" More than being a good example when your son can see and hear you, are you a good example behind closed doors? As fathers, we should be able to take any aspect of our lives, any moments, and use them as examples for our children. We should desire that our kids would be able to witness our behavior at any given time.
A) Obviously, there are some exceptions to this based on emotional and/or physical maturity, but I need to ask myself constantly, "Would I want my kids to know about this? Would I want my kids to emulate this? Do I want my kids to aspire to this?" As I live out my life in everything from my work, to how I treat my wife, to my prayer life, to my Bible study, to my internet use, to my language - even to where my thoughts dwell and how I spend my free time - Do I want my kids to do as I do? Or just do as I say? This is the conviction, the standard, the aspiration for myself. This is what it means to pursue holiness and protect righteousness.
P) Father, forgive me for my sins. Help me live a repentant, devoted, charitable, kind, compassionate, forgiving, sacrificing, faithful, righteous life. Holy Spirit, remind me constantly that I am the standard in my family. Help me set the culture in my home. Help me initiate worship and lead in prayer and read Scripture together. Help my children see godly behavior in me and create in them a desire to emulate that life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment