To Be Dazzled. To Be Awe-Struck. A Baby to Worship.

To sum up our goal in parenting: to commend the works of God to our children. 

This Christmas season, my heart is constantly being brought back to worship- to the fact that God came, that Jesus came to live among us. It's truly and utterly fascinating. I am reminded more than anything, that along with ourselves, our children are made to worship. It's instinctive. They are image bearers of God and therefore they are hard wired to worship. The only question is. "What will they worship?" Children are born with an intense imagination, an intense desire to discover, to be "wowed," to delight, to be awe-struck. They instinctively go about their days with the deep question in their heart about the reason for life, the reason for living. We live to worship...but what is it we are worshiping? Specifically in this season, what or whom are we directing our children's worship to? Is it Jesus? 


We are created by God to worship Him. To worship the God of the universe. So what happens when we are made to worship God and we don't?

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator- who is forever praised. ~Romans 1:25

We are created to be amazed. Our children are created to be amazed. We love greatness. This is why we love sports, an incredible American Idol performance, a dare devil stunt, or the way a kid is amazed by the "magic tricks" that only Grandpa can do. We are hard-wired to idolize.


So since we, and our children, are hard-wired to be worshipers and hard-wired to be amazed and delighted, what is my calling as a parent? To give them something to worship. (And what a perfect time of the year to do so). We are to show them where to find lasting amazement and delight....it's found in Jesus alone. Our greatest calling is to help our children see the dazzling excellence of God. "Children will never have right thoughts about themselves until they have right thoughts about God." And where do they learn these right thoughts about God? Not randomly, and certainly not just through church attendance, or even Christian school attendance. They learn it from us, their parents.

If we don't do this well, we leave our children alone with their deceitful hearts that tell them that the amazing and seemingly satisfying idols of their hearts is where life is found.

Wow this is quite a tall order. One I cannot do without God's daily help. Commending the works of God to my children. That's how I will show my children that God is worth worshiping. I will continue to direct them to a tiny babe in a manger, a King, born humbly to a poor teenager, on a rescue mission to redeem the world and the hearts of my children. That Jesus, not the idols of their heart is what will truly satisfy them. "My children are not likely to grow into adults who truly know God unless I provide them with a big God who is worthy of worship."