Modeling a Relationship with God for Our Children

Posted on October 1, 2023  •  2 minutes  • 413 words

But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience as an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.

1 Timothy 1:16

    Just as Paul was “foremost” in the early church - the one who was displaying his life as an example to others, as mothers, we are often foremost in our child’s life. This is true in the early years and later on.  Even when they get older and start finding (and pushing for) more independence from us, our influence on them can not be overstated.

Modeling our Relationship with God

    A great gift and a great challenge of motherhood is that ability to show our children, in real time, what a relationship with God can look like.  We can show them how to pray, how to study, how to orient our lives and our actions around God.  Every part of life, from major financial decisions to everyday moments like praying before meals, is an opportunity for us to model a Christian life for our kids.  To show them a real-world, attainable example of what that kind of relationship looks like.

Explaining our Lived Relationship with God

    We can and should explain the decisions we’ve made about our family life and how we believe those decisions align with what God wants for us. Explaining why we’re giving money to charity, or why we’re praying, or narrating as we model self-control or patience - all the stuff that makes us look GOOD.

    Of course it’s not just the good stuff. It also means apologizing when we make mistakes, owning up to failures, and showing them that we are also flawed humans who need forgiveness.  That even when we make big mistakes, God still loves us.  As mothers, we are given the opportunity to use our lives just by living them, as a way to show God’s love.