Marriage, Family, and Beyond - Raising Kids to Live Fully – Dependency Over Self-sufficiency
When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. Mark 10:14
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels and will then repay every man according to his deeds. Matthew 16:24-27
For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. 1 Peter 2:21-25
Today's thoughts from today's verses:
One of the major characteristics of being a child is dependency. Dependency is the foundation of true faith. This is why Jesus says, “the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.” Children have no choice but to depend upon and trust the adults in their lives. But for us as adults, dependency and faith don’t come easily. It often goes overlooked that Jesus lived His entire life here on earth in total dependence upon and faith in His Heavenly Father. Jesus modeled for us a life of dependency and faith. We are so prone to self-effort and self-sufficiency. Self-effort and self-sufficiency readily become a part of how we approach the Christian life. These two nemeses must be rooted out because they are contrary to living fully.
Living fully for God means that we are full of God. We cannot be full of God if we are full of ourselves. Not only is our pursuing a life of dependency and faith in Christ essential to our living fully for God, it is the key to our kids becoming ones who follow in our footsteps as we faithfully model “living fully” for them. We must build this kind of faith into our children’s lives while dependency and trust are natural to them. A “living fully” lifestyle that is replete with true dependency and faith requires that we come to an end of ourselves. You know what? our children won’t mind that one bit.
Today's prayer response from today's thoughts:
Lord, I renounce self-effort and self-sufficiency. I choose the path of fully depending on you and fully trusting in you. Keep it from being that our kids get from us what hinders them rather than helps them live fully for you. Show me how to come to the end of myself and how to become full of you. Grant that in this I find true rest for my weary soul. Amen!
