Helping Our Children Know Who They Are
When my daddy saw someone doing something foolish, he would ask: “What is he trying to prove?” Sometimes when children and teens act out, they are trying to prove something. They are trying to prove to themselves that they are important. From early childhood, parents must help their children know that they are beautifully made in the image of God, both by teaching them what God’s word says about that and by treating them that way. When we really believe that amazing reality, we have nothing to prove.
I will give thanks to You,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
Psalm 139:14
Photo by Toni Frissell, April 9, 1943,
courtesy of the Library of Congress.
What a comfort it is to go through life, knowing how amazing we are.
Our children also need to know that God considers them so important that He sent Jesus Christ to save them.
“For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:16
Besides our total helplessness at birth, and therefore, our need for loving care, God has other reasons for placing babies in families. One reason is that family is where we learn that as loved and important and cherished and amazing as we are, we are not the center of the universe. Other people are loved, important, cherished, and amazing, too. Family is the best place to learn how to love, live with, and serve others.
We must make sure that our sons and daughters know who they are. It’s our job to teach them that each person is created in the image of God, that Jesus loved and died for him or her, and that he or she has a purpose: to love God and love all those others who are created in His image, too.
“‘You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your mind.’
This is the great and foremost commandment.
The second is like it,
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
On these two commandments depend
the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:37-40