Your Faith and Salvation are personal. My faith doesn’t cover my children and their sin doesn’t condemn me. Although it seems like many parents try and make both of those things a reality in their home.
As parents we need to take time to train our children on the reasons behind our faith. And then live out that faith. That doesn’t mean we can be sinless examples to our children. It means we admit when we have sinned and repent in an open and observable way.
Many times while we are worried about getting our children to school and taking them to multiple sports practices and games, we forget to prepare them for the spiritual battles they will face in high school, college and life. Which is unfortunate, because their eternal soul is much more valuable that their athletic or scholastic prowess and earning potential.
What do we as parents do? I won’t pretend to know exactly. But here is what I am going to do based on the Biblical directive; “Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Prov. 22:6)
- Commit to understanding why I believe. My experiential faith may not work for others.
- Continue to read, learn and share the doctrine, life examples and Word of God as given to us in the Bible. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
- Prepare for the tough questions about why I believe and be ready to give a defense. We should research and formulate our answers and practice them. (Plenty of online videos and books)
- Put myself in situations that require me to practice my evidentiary and researched defense of my faith.
- Schedule time to train my children and equip them with the knowledge they need to answer the big questions that they will be asked from non-believers and false teachers.
- Put my children in controlled situations to experience atheistic and/or false doctrine. And then debrief and examine the proper defense and theology.
- Prepare my children to know that even if a teacher or authority figure makes a good case or puts on a good presentation against the existence of God, it does not mean it is true. (This happens in college all the time)
Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die. The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself. “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct,” declares the Lord God . “Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the Lord God . “Therefore, repent and live.”
EZEKIEL 18:4, 20-20, 30-32 NASB
