Family Matters

Family Matters: Let Go and Let God

By Amy Gentry

When your child makes the decision to follow Christ it can be a confusing time for a parent.  You may feel that your child is too young to make that decision and that they don’t really understand or mean what they are saying.  Most of us know someone or have ourselves been that person who made a profession of faith because they felt pressured to.   

When your child starts singing songs about Jesus’ love and praying at night for Grandma’s big toe – take a step back.  Don’t rush them straight down the aisle at church during the next invitation to make a public profession of faith in front of the whole congregation.  Watch and see if they are producing spiritual fruit.  They may answer all of the standard questions right - that Jesus is the Son of God and he died on a cross for our sins. 

But knowing who Jesus is and appreciating what he did for humanity is not the same as:

·         grieving your sinfulness,

·         accepting Jesus’ mercy (no punishment when one is deserved),

·         accepting His grace (a blessing when one is not warranted), and

·         repentance (doing a 180 from your current sins).

 

Let go and let God.

Your roll in your child’s spiritual life is to give them knowledge, disciple them, model spiritual disciplines and to pray for them.  Unfortunately, God’s relationship with your child is primarily a 2 person relationship (and you are not one of the people).  As parents, we have to trust the roll of the Holy Spirit to call our child, pray for them to have open ears to hear His voice and courage to respond to it. 

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39