Thursday, May 13, 2010

Teachable Moments

I had to blog this.  This week, 3 different times, God has brought to my attention the importance of teachable moments with our children.
The first time was in a conversation with my best friend. She shared a story about a teachable moment with her daughter at a friends house.
The second time was during the Sunday School lesson when my husband pointed out very clearly the importance of teaching scripture to our kids and creatively getting it into their hearts.
The third time was with a friend at the park. Without getting into all the details, my little Andrew did something that was quite embarrassing and honestly I was horrified over the situation.

This morning I read in Acts 2.  Peter is preaching a sermon to the men of Isreal.  In verse 38 he says to them "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

I haven't studied this verse, but I think Peter meant people who are located far away ("afar off"). But the first thing that came to my mind was the far off generations that will come after us.

Immediately I remembered something my mentor told me a couple years ago concerning praying for my children. And maybe this is common knowledge among believers, but for me it was new news. She told me to pray salvation for my children and their children and their children and, well you get the point; all the way down the line until Christ returns.


And God brought to my mind that praying for my children's salvation means that there will be hundreds and thousands of teachable moments in their lives - all of which I need to take advantage. Because these teachable moments, ordained by God Himself, point to the cross.  My precious friend Greta told me to ask God for those moments to happen right under my nose. Then I will be able to instill the truth into the situation.

As parents, we shy away from those moments because they can be embarassing, frustrating, annoying, repetitive and exhausting - to us. But as we pray for the salvation of our children, why don't we also ask God for those moments to happen so that we can instill in them the truth we want them to live by. And instead of taking them personally, let us thank God for each one and pray that He will give us His wisdom to pass on to our kids.

So this morning I prayed for my kids and yours - for teachable moment opportunities and for the salvation of our kids. I prayed that our kids would desire Christ as they grow up and that despite our stupidity as parents, God would instill in our hearts every tool we need to equip our kids and point them to the cross.

2 comments:

Anita said...

Thanks for praying for my kids...all of them...and their kids to come...some sooner than later! :)

love, peace, and happiness,
Anita

p.s. Check out my blog...video posted!! :)

The McNeill family said...

Oh sweet best friend! Wow! Your blog looks AWESOME! I have been catching up on your last few posts... I love your poem! I miss you so so so much. Love you!

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