What We Heard

The call to be a dad is a hard but incredibly important calling that will have a lasting impact on your family for generations to come.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9

We have been called to daily impress the word of God on our kid’s hearts and to raise them to be Godly young men and women.  This does not happen by accident but by being very intentional in how we parent.  There are a lot of things in life that we can outsource, schooling, sports, lessons, but faith cannot be something we outsource. The church’s role is not to be the primary spiritual leaders in their life.  The churches role is to come alongside dads and help them to be the primary spiritual leader in the home.

What It Means

There are many challenges families will be faced with. Here are a few of the most common challenges parents face.

Challenge #1: Schedule
We live in a culture where we are constantly on the go, and with all we have going on plus our kids’ extracurricular activities, it is very easy to get our priorities out of order.  Church and our own spiritual walk tend to be the first activities cut from our schedules.  When we put our priorities in the wrong order we can expect that our kids will too.

Parenting has never been easy but Life seems to have become more complex. We have more choices than ever before, and more choices cause more anxiety.  Now more than ever we need to practice self-control in our families so that we can keep our priorities straight.

Challenge #2: Social Media
Social media itself isn’t bad but it does require boundaries.  Dads need to be very engaged and aware of what their kids are doing on social media. 

When dads watch what their kids are doing it sends a signal that what they are doing matters.

Challenge #3: Sex
More than 40% of dads don’t have these conversations until after a child has been sexually active.  Most young boys see their first pornographic image by age 8.  Our kids will hear and learn about sex from friends at school, tv, movies etc…

As dads and spiritual leaders, we should be talking about this topic early and often.  Our kids will be bombarded by this topic from our culture, this is why it is so important to not just have “The talk”  but multiple “talks”  We should start early impressing a biblical worldview on their life. Our kids need to understand that God’s word is authoritative.

What We Do Next

Be the example. You can’t be a spiritual leader if you are not a Spirit follower.  Just as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:11, Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

Be intentional. It takes hard work and energy. Plan out time to have spiritual conversations with your kids every day.

Be engaged. Just like we learned from Deuteronomy 6. We need to be teaching our children about Jesus during all aspects of our life. Your Presence matters.

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:7-9