[Editor's Note: I am so excited to bring you the first contribution to a new wonderful series we are doing on praying for our children. I firmly believe that as parents, it is part of our responsibility, and an honor, to pray to our Father in heaven on behalf of our children. As we work our way through this series, we will talk about teaching work ethics; salvation; love; purity; respect; self-control; perseverance; a love for God's word; and other virtues and life lessons. I pray you are blessed and encouraged by the words of these posts and that you will join me in my passion for growing strong, confident, loving, honorable and faithful children of God.]
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By Jason, M.Ed., M.A.R., Headmaster
"More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb." Psalm 19:10
"Oh how I love your law!" Psalm 119:97
When someone really treasures something, it's not hard to tell. Whether it's the Ravens fans who always wears purple or the young man in love who can talk about nothing but his beloved, people generally show their true affections plainly.
If you talk to my boys for long, it's not hard to figure out what they treasure. Right now, it's Legos and Matchbox cars. I like Legos and Matchbox cars, too, but you can probably guess that my boys' love of their toys sometimes leads them to fight with each other. It's easy for me to get frustrated with my boys' misguided affections, but I know my own foolish heart is easily led astray by false loves. How many times have I flattered someone because I value their good opinion of me? How often have I lost my temper with my kids not because they have sinned but because they violate my precious peace and quiet?
This is why we need to be careful what we value and what our children value. What we value soon captures our hearts and then drives our decisions. The battle for our hearts and for the hearts of our children never stops. The things that threaten to hold sway over us today are different from what tempted us yesterday. Tomorrow, our wandering hearts will be prone to wander away after something else.
Because of the never-ending and ever-changing battle for our hearts, we need to make sure we and our children treasure what is truly valuable. Of course, God is the One our hearts should value above all else. But how do we know God? How do we grow in our relationship with Him? How do we know His will for our lives? The only way we have to God is through His Word, so if our hearts are going to treasure Him, they must be fixed upon His word.
In Psalm 19, David said he valued God's Word above the best riches (gold) and the tastiest food (honey). In Psalm 119, he said it even more plainly, "Oh, how I love your law!" David's love for God's Word is why he was known as "a man after God's own heart." (1 Samuel 13:14) David's love for God was not perfect. He was a sinner like the rest of us, but his heart returned to longing after God, even after his worst sin. (Just read Psalm 51 for evidence of that!)
If we want our children to have God's best for their lives and to become all that He has made them to be, we need to pray that their hearts would be anchored deeply in God's Word. Nothing else will hold them steadily and guide them well in all the seasons of their lives. And, of course, if we're going to pray this for our children, we need to pray it for ourselves first. Our kids will need to see God's Word holding our hearts steady if we expect them to love His Word for themselves!
Beyond praying for ourselves and our children to love God's word, we should seek to read, study and memorize His Word every day. As we hear the Word, grow in our understanding of the Word and hide His Word in our hearts, God will grow our love for Him and His Word. These times in the Word will look different as our children grow, but reading God's Word aloud as a family, studying it together, and memorizing passages of the Bible are three essential ways to meditate on God's Word and so to be blessed by Him.
"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." Joshua 1:8
Jason is blessed to be married to a wonderful woman and to have three children (two boys, aged 6 and 3 and a baby girl). He serves as the Headmaster of a classical, Christian school and as an elder in his church. He enjoys strong coffee, good books and nature walks with his family.