As a mother, I care a great deal for the soil of my children’s’ hearts. If you’re a parent, I’m sure your greatest desire for your child is for her to have a heart fully devoted to God and not to a life of destruction and selfishness.
Is there a fool-proof plan to make sure your child worships her Creator and not ‘life- crippling things’?? Well, as much as we may wish there were, I can’t find one in the Bible. Can you? What I do find is this…
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.- Prov 22:6
Lately, I have been pondering the lives of a few friends from my childhood and early adulthood. Some of them I used to do camp ministry with or went to Sunday school with and now they live lives on the road to self-indulgence and self-destruction and have completely turned their back on God. What happened to them? Their parents were pillars in the church – so what happened? Why did their lives abruptly take a different path?
In Luke 8, Jesus told the story of the sower…
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
When he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Luke 8:5-8)
After the disciples ask Jesus what the story meant, he shares…
“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
So, after reading this story, I can’t help but think of my own kids and their futures. I want them to obviously be ones with good soil. So, how do I produce and cultivate good soil in their lives?
How do we cultivate the soil of our children’s hearts?
In his book, “Heartfelt Discipline”
I realized that even as I scattered seeds in my child’s heart, I needed to pay more attention to soil preparation … My real work is not to grow character qualities but to prepare the soil of my child’s heart to be ready to receive the seed of God’s Word, the gospel. That’s when character growing begins – when the Spirit of God brings Christ’s life into my child’s heart.”
Am I planting seeds without preparing the soil of my child’s heart?
How do we cultivate the soil of our children’s hearts? Clay writes…
* We familiarize our children with the ways and words of God so that accepting the gospel will be a natural step forward
* We are readying their hearts, preparing fertile soil that deep roots can sink in
* The task is not to plant enough good seeds to crowd out the world’s weedy influences; it’s about faithfully preparing the soil of our children’s hearts
* I can grow a million seeds of character into my child’s heart, but unless her heart has been prepared, and until it is changed by Christ, those seeds will be wasted.
* There must be hoeing if the sowing is to result in growing.
Then I remember Deut 6:5-7…
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Hmm, that must be what heart cultivation is… parents loving God with all THEIR hearts and THEIR souls and THEIR strength and THEN modelling this to their children.
Aha, Soil cultivation starts with the farmer! And as parents, we are the farmers! Are we effectively modelling devotion to God with all our heart, soul and strength and effectively modelling this for our children?
So, what about my friends who have fallen away from God? Well, that one hurts deeply because like myself, their parents were Christian leaders. Did they get caught up in ministry or business success and as a result neglect their family? I am just praying that with all the mistakes that I may make, that my kids will somehow blossom and grow despite my imperfections.
“Lord, teach me how to cultivate my children’s hearts. May my mistakes not put them on the road to self indulgence. May my example to them be of a life fully devoted to God: heart, soul and strength and doing that through loving and cultivating the hearts of my family. Amen.”
- written by Merri Ellen Giesbrecht, Kids Pastor
Filed under: Book Reviews, Parenting | 1 Comment
Tags: christian parenting
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I want this more than life itself. If I lose my kids to the world, none of my “accomplishments” will mean anything to me. Thanks you, Merri Ellen, for sharing these thoughts and the prayer. A key thought was the one about not trying to plant enough good seeds to crowd out the weedy, worldly ones, but to truly cultivate the soil and prepare it for what the Word of God can do when it falls on fertile soil. Oh, Lord, give us Your eyes and Your strength to be consistently investing in our children’s soul-soil!!
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