Daily devotional, February 7, 2024 Food Boxes

"But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect," 1 Peter 3:15

Part of my daily chore and one of the joys of my day-to-day existence is preparing snack boxes for my three children. Yes, I take pleasure in planning and preparing their recess food even if I am not an excellent bento maker. In any case, one time as I packed my eldest kid’s food boxes for her excursion I got to thinking, what else did I give her that will meet her needs for the rest of the day?

The answer that popped in my mind was Jesus. No, I did not put a bible verse cue card in there (which I sometimes put in their lunch boxes randomly) but the real Lord Jesus in her heart. As Christian moms, we can make opportunities for our children to draw near to God. We can expose them to a loving church community that will teach them more about Jesus. And as parents, we ultimately should take it upon ourselves to plant the seeds of faith in their heart. The Bible was clear in telling us how we should raise our children

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Deuteronomy 6: 5-7

There are two significant parenting lessons and truths that I have learned, and now aim to work on as I raise my kids. First is that our main goal as parents is to raise our children in Christlikeness. The second, I heard from Pastor Craig Groeschel who said (not verbatim, but as I remember) that as our children grow, we should transfer their dependence on us towards total dependence on God.

As they grow into adulthood, our children naturally become independent from us. We however do not want them to be independent from God. We want them to live just like us, who are totally dependent on the Lord.

"As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him." 
Psalm 103:13

By raising our kids to be fully dependent on God, we will have the confidence to let them fly out of our nest. We will have that peace in our hearts as parents that our children will remain safe from the consequences of sin because they will try their best to veer away from it.

We will also have the conviction that they can handle the challenges because we have taught them to pray and when they pray our Lord will listen and comfort them. That they may make mistakes but because of the seed of faith we planted on them, they know that they can come back to the Lord, repent, and be redeemed and restart living a good life. That they do not just have us as a family, but they also have their church family to rejoice and weep with at all times.

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it" 
Proverbs 22:6

So how do we raise our kids to be dependent on God? Well, the best way is by being a good example. As they say, children will not do what you tell them, but they will do what they see in you. So if they witness that you are fully dependent on God, and you manifest the values of a Godly parent, then most likely your child will follow in your footsteps.

"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." 
1 Timothy 4:12

Next way is to expose them to a life of prayer. Being fully dependent on God means God is in the center of your family. When He is in the center of your family, that means you are living a life of prayer, and Sunday church is a default activity. Teach your children to pray, and pray as a family no matter how long it gets for the little ones to say what they want to say to the Lord. Just get everyone into the habit of praying to Jesus.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." 
Proverbs 3:5-6

Another step to take is to expose the children to the lessons of the Bible. Older kids and teenagers may not be as voracious bible readers as adults but that does not mean you cannot share bible stories and lessons to them.

We can easily relate stories to them by making it a habit to share what we have read in our daily bible reading. We can of course word it and explain it to them in a way they would understand. For older kids, we can share our realization and possible life application of the bible story we have read.

Let us normalize talking about Jesus in our home. If you haven’t started doing this yet, I promise that if you keep up the habit, then it will not sound awkward anymore in a couple of weeks.

“But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4

We can also make the children consume Christian content. This world is just so filled with digital content that is opposed to biblical values. To counter these, we parents can encourage our children to listen and watch shows and songs that uphold gospel values.

To make them interested, allow the kids to see you consuming the same content too. If they observe that you enjoy watching Christian content, they might just get curious. Moreso if you watch with them, read with them, and then play (or blast) praise music in your house or car, then it will just be the normal media content that they will get used to. 

"I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." 
Psalm 119:11

As parents we can only do so much in preparing our kids for the real world. We can give them a trust fund, a good education, a property, and even nice things but if we cannot give them Jesus, they will miss out on God’s best plans for their life.

When the kids grow up living separately from the Lord, they will not be able to live life to the fullest. They may fall into sin and waywardness, they may get into the wrong crowd, and when they fail they may easily fall into depression. The worst thing is, what if we are too old to help or have passed on already?

So if we act now (if we haven’t yet) we can have the confidence that God will work in their lives. And of course, we can take heart, that no matter how much love we have for our children, we can never outlove our Heavenly Father in terms of caring, doting, protecting and providing for our little ones.

Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on Deuteronomy 6:5-9  and Psalm 121 to dig deeper on today’s topic.

Reflection Question: Have you planted seeds of faith in your children?

Conversation with the Lord: Heavenly Father, empower me to plant seeds of faith on my children so that they can live life in your presence. Teach me to raise them in Christlikeness, so that they could live lives that are glorifying to you. Amen.