My #1 Goal for My Children

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting with an old college friend. As we talked at length, I shared with her my #1 goal for my children. It is not impeccable manners, academic perfection, athletic excellence, or financial success. It is not even morality, purity, great theology, or Biblical literacy, although all of those are certainly worthy goals.

My #1 goal for my children is that they have a strong personal relationship with Christ and know how to hear God's voice.

I have tailored all of my parenting toward this goal. Good manners are about showing kindness to others and treating them as reflections of their creator God. Academic success is about doing their best and making good use of the gifts God has given them. Athletics are about treating their body like the temple of the Holy Spirit. Morality and purity should be a natural outgrowth of that relationship with Christ. And while theology is important and Bible study is an essential way in which we learn to understand God's voice, without that life-giving spirit to guide us on the subtleties, logical study alone can be lifeless and brittle. If you know God and can hear His voice, everything else pretty much falls into place. 

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. ~ 2 Corinthians 3:6

Not often in life is a parent given the tangible gift of seeing their #1 goal for their children achieved. Yesterday, I received such a gift. So I'm going to keep this post short and encourage you to visit my daughter's missions blog. I think you'll be as blessed as I was. And take a minute to read some of her older posts. She is a true woman of God and an inspiration. Click here for Christi Sleiman's blogpost "Put Down the Headphones."

Quintessential Christi