Raising kids in a world that shouts MINE!
Raising kids in a world that shouts MINE will cost us. The cost to that is EVERYTHING.. Jesus said, “Count the cost.” (Luke 14:28) Raising kids to know and love Jesus with their whole heart and all of their mind will come with a cost in a world that pushes for self.. awareness, worth and greatness. The world seeks popularity based on the approval and validation of our self-worth from the opinions of others but we have the opportunity as mamas to do it differently by ushering in the truth of their worth that is only found in the Good News of the Gospel. Are we willing to let God be enough? What worldly sacrifice is found there? Living without sacrifice was never taught or practiced by Jesus. While the world shouts MINE with phrases like: “you deserve this”, “do what makes you happy”, Jesus said, “Those who are greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant.” (Mark 22:26-27) When Christ calls us to come and follow, He specifically says, “take up your cross and follow me.” This mindset shifts our hearts to MOVE differently in motherhood. We are witnessing a very self aware generation. We see “self” knocking at every corner of conversations.. “do what makes you happy”, “as long as our family is chasing our kids’ happiness, we will be happy”, “my kid deserves this”, “You can be anything you want to be”.. hands clinched shouting… mine, mine, mine. I want to challenge the mindset of motherhood to align ourselves with the goodness of the Gospel. Where is the sacrifice? Where is the cost of the Cross in these ideas of parenting? What is it pointing our kids towards? Mark 8:34-37 says, “Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it. For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life? What can anyone give in exchange for his life?” This invitation from Jesus to His disciples and the crowd lays out the cost of following Him - TURN AWAY FROM YOUR SELFISH WAYS - shifting our hearts from “I or my kid deserves this AT ALL COSTS” to “Is this what Jesus wants for me and my children, no matter the costs?” Our mindset should be ONLY on what Jesus wants for us.. His purpose, His plan, His goals more than anything else in this world. Mamas, it will cost us to disciple our kids to a life surrendered to lowliness! It means we will rub up against people fighting for their place in this world.. willing to promote self or tear others down to get it, all the while, we are held in knowing His peace is found in the surrender of seeking Him first! I want my kids to simply and wholeheartedly SEEK HIM FIRST! If we fail to point our children to see their need for Jesus, how will they understand the cost of the Cross? If they don’t know their need for Jesus, why would they ever want Jesus? By fulfilling their needs by putting ourselves in Christ’s place or pointing them to fulfill their own needs in a desperate grab of self-happiness, we are losing the opportunity to disciple our children to understand COUNTING THE COST. We have a calling as moms! God knew that motherhood would be an invitation for us to witness to our kids about the goodness of who He is and His faithfulness in every season! Through our suffering, no matter what that looks like, our kids learn that even though this situation didn’t have the outcome we thought, our Hope still rests in what God will do with this! I personally struggle with this daily.. with the big and little things. If I can just fix it, it will be ok. We have to be willing to let our kids see Him in their struggles and not putting ourselves in His place in their lives to control the situation to remove the struggle - through our words or actions - so they don’t miss His goodness in it! Let’s take a step back and look at HOW and WHAT we are pointing our kids towards. Are Are we opening up His word and letting Him prune our hearts, our minds, our lives? Motherhood is our ministry, mamas! Don’t miss the opportunity to disciple your kids differently!