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Why is Spiritual Development So Important?
As your
children grow physically and emotionally, the spiritual
development will touch every part of their lives. This
development will shape the child’s social and emotional,
relationship to God, parents, teacher, siblings, employer,
spouse, and friends and will affect their outlook on life.
Being counseled a young lady was asked to describe her
father. She answered, “He is gentle, honest, kind, a
gentleman, very loving…but I feel he is also distant. When
asked to describe God, she used similar words, “…loving,
kind, all-powerful…but He seems so distant.”
A child’s
image of God is influenced by his relationship with his
parent.
Genesis
1:26
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to
Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and
over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all
the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth.”
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God,
being spirit, invisible and living in Heaven, is difficult
for a child to grasp, but God provided a solution to this
problem, the family unit. A physical means to represent and
explain a spiritual reality. As a child grows she learns
about love, kindness, justice and mercy from her earthly
father. Therefore when God is explained she begins to
comprehend. “If God who is a spirit and invisible is
heavenly Father, He must be like my father. That’s what God
is like!”
This
simply means that child-rearing starts with your personal
relationship with God. Spiritual, loving and mature
parents make the transition easier for children to
understand God’s character. On the other hand,
inconsistent, domineering, emotionally distant parents will
instill a poor father-image. Therefore children who are reared in this
environment may see God as distant, uncaring, bullying or
weak. Many people seek God, but their vision is blurred by
the character of their earthly parent.
Application:
Before
raising children, secure your personal spiritual
relationship with God. Learn more about Him and His
parenting methods for you. Work toward being the Christian,
child of God, disciple, brother, sister, friend that God
wants to you be.
1
Thessalonians 4:9
Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for
anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God
to love one another;
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