May 2021...

Dear Friends,

May is Mother’s Day Month, and Mother’s Day makes us think of the most essential job of moms (and dads) - the raising of our children.

When asked what we want for our children, parents often say they want their children to be happy. They want their children to be successful, to live a balanced life, to contribute to society and to build loving relationships with their own spouse and children.

The question is, How do parents help their kids reach these goals?

The only sure anchor for a full, abundant and eternal life is a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. A faith relationship with Christ lays out the way we are to live daily life. That’s true for children and adults.

If we want our kids to reach the dream, WE NEED TO PASS TO THEM A PASSION FOR JESUS CHRIST. Parents, that task is primarily yours. The church can help but your responsibility for your kids extends to developing their adult faith.

I’m not talking about simply passing along good morals: things like being generous, having compassion, serving others, or reserving sex until marriage. These are important results of a relationship with Christ, but they aren’t the relationship itself.

I’m talking about passing along a love for Christ and his kingdom. Without that love for Christ, even our good morals miss the mark. We can’t be “good” as God would have us be “good” and ignore the God who made us to be “good” or the Savior who transforms us.

Joshua 24:15 reads “...as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Is that the tone of your household? Is that the cry of your heart for your children? You see, if you don’t live your faith your kids will learn that faith is just for kids. After all, if the most important adults in their lives don’t live it, they will learn from you not to live it too.

So I’m asking moms (and dads) to examine what you do. Do your children see you attend worship, and Sunday School, or is that just a kid drop-off? Do your children hear you pray, or is that something only they do before bedtime? Do your children see your love and passion for Jesus Christ or do they see you ignoring the things of faith in your own daily behavior?

Mothers (and fathers) have a great commission from God; to go into their home and live and teach the good news so their children will love Christ and do all he taught us.

My prayer this May is that our passion for Christ will ignite a great fire that the next generation will see and embrace.

     ~ Pastor Byron

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