Someone asked me a question recently about raising kids in a way that would help them to embrace God and remain with God into their adult years.  Beyond simply praying for your children, this most important question has two aspects in its answer.  The first part of the answer has to do with our own faith journey with God.  The second part of the answer has to do with our involvement in their spiritual as well as physical and emotional upbringing.  Today I’ll speak to the first part of the answer.

As I sit with families who are planning a parent’s funeral, one question I ask is this, “Tell me about your parent’s relationship with God?”  There are a variety of answers that I have heard throughout the years ranging from, “They did not believe in God” to “They were in church every Sunday!”  Often times I see a correlation between their answer and the level of their belief in God.  Whatever you think, understand this one thing, a parent has the greatest influence on their children (good or bad) in regard to what they believe when it comes to God.  Right or wrong, faith is often caught by children from those who influence them, especially in their growing up years.  So if faith plays an important and vital relationship in a parent’s life and is demonstrated in practical ways, it is more likely that it will be important and imparted into their children as well.  The reverse is true too… if there is no belief or spiritual activity in the life of a parent, a child will be hard pressed to develop one as they grow up, unless another influential person in their life (oftentimes a grandparent) helps to nurture their spiritual life as they grow up.

It is never too late to be a spiritual influence on your children.  Whether they are young or they have moved out of the house and have

 begun to live life on their own.  Although it seems, the older they get the less influence you have… 

especially somewhere between their mid/late teens to 

their early/mid 20’s

 when parents seem to lose all sense of knowledge or wisdom. 🙂  Allow your kids to catch you when you are talking to God, when your reading the Bible or singing a hymn or christian song.  By all means ask for forgiveness when you have wronged others and forgive when you have been wronged.  When we let them see God in our lives in these ways, they are more likely to allow God into theirs.

Never give up hope that God can have an influence in your children’s life, especially as you give God room to work in your life.  In the next blog I will give you some resources to help you raise your children with spiritual certainty in un-spiritual times.