12/4/17

Today we are going to talk about discipleship of older kids a bit.  I want you to start off by thinking of the Bible and any other type of spiritual material as "food".  Jesus refers to the Word as food as well.  Just like with physical food, a person must eat spiritual food on a daily basis in order to maintain good health.  Binge feeding and diet fads are almost always unhealthy, and a habit of eating smaller amounts of a variety of foods is almost always a better life pattern.  Think in terms of food types first.  Think: meals; snacks; desserts; protein; fiber; sweets; carbs...etc.  Now apply that to how we expect our kids (and sadly ourselves) to be spiritually "eating."  If we sit down with our kids or or our spouse once a week and do some form of devotional activity we feel good.  We think we have accomplished something.  But is this good?  Is a once a week feeding (apart from church let's say) going to sustain them?  Think in a new way.  Our main meal should be feeding directly on the Word of God.  The Bible is our main food source.  Jesus has promised that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth as we "rightly divide the Word of truth."  So, we need to be in the Word daily.  I think (like in eating physical food) it is more beneficial to eat smaller meals more often throughout the day than it is to sit down and gorge in one setting, then feel like we are done for the day.  Keeping a Bible in different areas that we sit throughout the day is a good way of doing this, or maybe better yet, is to have the bible on our phone.  Then it is with us always.  So, we are often reading throughout our day, and we are teaching our kids to do likewise.  For older kids think about having a once or twice a week 'Worldview' class in you home.  This would be a time when you sit down as a family (or portion of your family) and go through some extra-biblical material together.  Maybe you are watching a sermon series on-line, or possibly going through topical series like we do here at Future Men.  It is so very easy to google search YouTube for topics that will be of benefit to all of you.  When a student is attending Future Men they are in roughly 10 hours each week of Worldview, to ask for an hour or so each week is nothing.  This is a pattern that can be established from day one upon their return home and they will begin to see it as normal.  The key will be your being faithful.  You cannot just do it when you feel "up to it."  They will begin to resent "wasting"their time if they don't see you demonstrate the importance of it.  If you need ideas on what to watch or topics to search, just ask.  You can ask them or you can ask me.  There are endless good healthy things to be showing them.  Going back to our food analogy, these "Worldview" classes are like good healthy snacks.  Think of it like a spiritual granola bar, or perhaps some spiritual fruit.  This isn't meant to take the place of allowing God to speak with you or your kids directly through His Word, but it is a healthy addition to it.  My kids look forward to this each week and you can genuinely see disappointment when we skip it for some reason or another.  Personal discipleship/accountability time is another food source.  Praying with them, asking hard questions, and tracking their own Bible and extra-curricular reading books.  Depending on how open your son is discipleship can take anywhere from 40 minutes to maybe and hour and a half or so.  Again, this takes establishing habits.  Once you are in the routine it will be a life blood to your family.  So now, when some serious issue comes up, you won't feel as though you don't really know your son or haven't been talking to him lately.  Now you have his confidence, you are already meeting with him regularly, and this is just another day and just a normal part of working through life's issues.  Going back to the food analogy once more keep in mind that too much of anything could be too much of a good thing.  Watching Christian comedians is fun, and is much better then what the world has to offer, but it is still best served in moderation.  I see this type of food as dessert or possible just a "candy break."  You wouldn't consider candy or dessert something to be eating on a regular basis, nor would you be satisfied that you son is "at least eating something."  You know that eating a diet of just candy is probably just as bad as not eating at all in the long run.  One thing I have added to my kids "diet" is a good commentary set.  Again, this probably shouldn't take the place of the Bible, but its close.  We are using the John MacArthur commentary set.  It prints off a verse or two, then breaks it down and describes the context, meaning, and setting of particular verses.  My kids really enjoy it.  So, start feeding your family!  Please feel free to email or text if you have questions or comments.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

9/28/17

Today I want to briefly talk about a parent's job to stand at the "gates" of their home and stop any kind of foolishness to creep in.  In the early days of the Children of Israel they would post guards in many different locations around the city to "watch" for the enemy to sneak in (read 1 Chronicles to get an idea of how many men this entailed!).  What is crazy is that the best watchmen weren't placed on the back or side gates, but rather on the main front gates where the most traffic was going through.  The thought was that the enemy is more likely to sneak in where least expected rather than covertly sneaking in over some back wall (although they placed guards there as well).  As a parent YOU are that guard watching over the traffic coming in and out of your city, you home.  Most of the traffic coming in and out is safe, normal...but its also where you least expect it that the enemy strikes.  In a home this looks like the neighborhood kid, or the visiti...
Read more

3/7/18

It is good to know the science behind what our kids are taught about their sexual orientation. We have been talking a little about pornography and how it effects our sons, but reality is it also plays a role in the shaping of their sexual orientation...which is a very scary thought.  There is a short teaching series on a web site called Your Brain on Porn, and it discusses the teenage brain and how viewing porn can actually change not only the way we view women, but also how we view our own sexuality.  The science studies show that DNA plays a role in how we view ourselves sexually, but so does sexual conditioning.  Unlike what our culture is teaching our kids, we really do reap what we sow in regards to how our brain is changing based on what we are dumping into it.  Today's porn is different in its content than the porn of the past, and the content is changing how our sons feel about who they are and what they think they "want."  As parents we need to have a ...
Read more

11/8/17

Okay...I apologize a lot for not writing, but I am busy, and I actually have a legit reason this time!  First, my wife was in Africa for 2 weeks and I had all the kids (thats 10 still at home for those who dont know this).  Second, when she got back the internet at FM was actually down for 8 days!  Third, my wife and kids left for a yearly vacation they take with an old friend of hers (an ex-female student of mine who lived with us for three years and now is raising 7 kids of her own (my wife disciples her from a distance and they like to get together every so often to catch up and do some mom version of "iron sharpening iron!).  So...I decided to volunteer and build a fireplace hearth and mantle for one of my directors who is building his own home while she is gone!  Needless to say...too many irons in the fire!  But, I finished 30 minutes ago, I am sitting down, and thought I would try and catch up.  No more excuses.  One thought  that kee...
Read more