Length: 5 minutes

As parents, so many times we want to go to a parenting conference or listen to a seminar to get some secret to raising their kids in a godly manner. This may sound oversimplified, but there is one thing you need to do as a parent that will fix everything in the life of your child: Everyday, give your kids the opportunity to know Jesus.

When it comes to yourself, how are you transformed? How are problems resolved in your life? How do you receive change from God? If you’ve been around this church long enough, you know it’s simply through renewing your mind to Jesus. That’s where it all comes from!

Romans 12:2 (NKJV) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…

According to 2 Corinthians 3:18, it’s specifically Jesus that we are renewing our mind to. That’s where transformation in our lives comes from. And if that is true for you, how would it not be true for your child?

Most parents just try to treat the symptoms. They see their child acting up, they see their child going through struggles, and they’re trying to treat these sypmtoms. And while we need to correct our children’s actions, there is an underlying thing that causes lack of fruitfulness in their life. Lack of knowledge of Jesus. There is also only one thing necessary that produces the correct fruit in anyone’s life, including your child. That is, the knowledge of Jesus.

I’m not saying that there’s not a right way to discipline a child. I’m not saying that there is no such thing as godly decision-making, as a parent or a child. But I am saying that the right actions, the right thoughts, the right anything comes from knowing Jesus. Knowing Him will change you as a parent, in how you love and discipline your child. But it will also transform your child so that discipline becomes more infrequent to begin with.

Apart from training your child to know Jesus and setting that knowledge as the number one priority in your household, you can try to treat the symptoms in their life, you can try to deal with the outside of the cup, but if you don’t instill the knowledge of Jesus, the best your child will get is a “form of godliness,” the appearance of good behavior, but no lasting transformation (2 Timothy 3:5, Titus 1:1). They will go through problems just like the world. They will struggle just like the world, all the while giving a façade of godliness on the outside. That is not what God wants for your child, and I know that’s not what you want either.

The effective way of instilling the knowledge of Jesus in your child is for you to be pursuing it yourself. You cannot teach what you don’t know yourself. You can’t wash someone else’s mind unless your mind is washed first. If you are learning the truth for yourself, that will effortlessly come out of your mouth and effortlessly be prioritized in your household. That is the correct way to do it. But even for a parent that doesn’t value the truth for themselves it would behoove them to give their kids an opportunity to know it.

Bible Reading And Church

For starters, if you don’t have a regiment for your kids in Bible reading and church attendance, you are severely limiting their ability to know Jesus. Your children do not know what is right for themselves. You, as a parent need to tell them. Having a structured regiment for Bible reading every day is indispensable. You can’t force your children to truly seek the Lord in their own heart, but you can surely give them that opportunity every day.

It’s troubling to see parents that send their kids to school, provide their kids food every day, but leave Bible reading and church attendance as an option for their kids to decide for themselves. That is a great disservice. Your kids can go to school and eat healthy every day, but they are still poor and needy if they don’t know the Lord. If school is not an option for a child because we value their education, if eating healthy is not an option for a child because we value their health, then why would church or Bible reading be an option if we valued their entire well-being and their future? Mostly because many do not realize the power that the gospel has that can change people’s lives – from their health to their safety, to their emotional well-being, and everything else.

What you enforce as a parent shows your children what you believe is important. And when you do not enforce Bible reading and spending time with the Lord, you are telling your children that it is not that important. At least not as important as school or eating healthy, for instance.

Raising kids is so much easier when you raise them to know Jesus. Because as their minds are renewed to know Jesus for themselves, they are automatically transformed… Making your job a whole lot easier. Even if you don’t know the Lord a whole lot for yourself right now, do not strip your children of the opportunity to know Jesus for themselves. If you’re going to enforce one thing in your household, above all else, enforce their time with the Lord. 

When Pastor Jose and Miss Kim were raising their kids, they had a 30-minute Bible reading time every single night. It was not an option because when something is important, you don’t give your children the option. That’s how they learn. And when it came to going to a good church, it was every service. There were no sleepovers on Saturday nights because that would interfere with church the next day. And if there was, their friends slept over their house and were brought with them to church. Church was open twice a week, and the whole family attended twice a week. That’s not strict, that’s just having good priorities.

As Pastor Mike and Miss Lindsay got older, no one needed to badger them about spending time with the Lord. They began doing it willfully, from a real desire to know who they were in Christ. They had been given that opportunity all their lives and they took that opportunity.

If your kids are adults now, obviously a Bible reading regiment is not suitable anymore, but speak the truth to them in love. Their minds being renewed to Jesus is all that matters.

Specifically, for those who are raising children in your home, prioritize knowing the good news about what Jesus did for all of us from a genuine desire for your children to see how Jesus took all our problems and gave us everything we could ever want or need. Whether that’s through church attendance, Bible reading, prayer time, or just speaking from a Jesus centered perspective in your home, that’s the best parenting advice you’ll ever hear from anyone. Most parenting advice only deals with the symptoms. The knowledge of Jesus deals with the root.

You don’t have to know everything to parent, and you don’t have to act like you know everything in front of your kids, but you do need to know one thing: There is nothing more important in this world than knowing Jesus. And nothing will do more for your kid’s health, well being. and decision-making than that. Show your kids that, and you will never regret it. Never.