Aim for the Heart

My 2 beautiful children!

My son is almost 16 now, so hard to believe.  I never understood what parents met when they would talk about how fast their children grew up; but I understand that now.

JohnLuke asked me the other day if everything I have said about Jesus is true.  Yes my inside kind of shook a bit, but my desire is to give him space to explore, test, ask questions and find Jesus for himself.  I believe God is big enough to handle his questions; if He is, then I ask that He empower me to do the same.

JohnLuke is a gentle, loving, courageous young man.  He asked Jesus to come into his heart when he was 4 years old.  I believe so strongly God met him at this point, but I also believe he is at a place right now where he needs this to be real for him.....what does it mean for him day to day.  It is hard sometime to hear the questions, I often want to say, "What!"  Or tell him he shouldn't feel that way, but I believe that would be dishonoring him.  I don't want him to be scare to ask questions, voice concerns, doubts; I want him to be able to come to me and ask these questions and share these concerns.

Howard and I always sensed we were to aim at our children's hearts, not their behaviour.  Now I am not talking about the organ that pumps blood throughout our body.  According to Scripture, the heart is the centre of life and your orientation toward life.  In Proverbs 3, Solomon talked about his strategy for discipling his son ......his primary concern for his son was his heart.  He wanted the centre of his son's life and his orientation toward God to be a good one.  Solomon knew if he missed his son's heart, the best advice in the world would mean absolutely nothing.  Howard and I claimed this strategy also.

How do you do this?  It starts by building relationship with them .....jump into their world and do what they like to do ....participate with them.  This is ultimately what God in Christ did for us.  He left His place; His position on high, He came low and He related with us, He loved us.  He initiated relationship with us.

This is our job as parents, but I think it also our job with other people; we need to enter into their world.  This creates space for God to capture them with His heart of love.  This love can change their lives.

Maybe the question for us to think about today is .......do our children, other people see a transformed life and a life that is transforming ......becoming more and more who God created us to be .....becoming more and more like Jesus?