Planting Seeds of Faith in Your Parenting

In the previous two blog posts, I shared some thoughts on partnering with God in your parenting and being intentional about raising godly kids.  

In this post, I want to encourage you plant seeds of faith in your kids’ lives.

Orpha and I grew up in families that knew about God but did not experience Him together. Our parents celebrated Christmas and Easter with our families because “it was the thing to do,” and our grandparents did it. I went to Sunday school class from time to time, but it never meant too much to me or my family.

We grew up around God and knew some things about God, but we didn’t know God’s character and certainly did not have a relationship with his son, Jesus Christ. It would not be a stretch to say our family Bible got more use from our golden retriever as a chew toy than anyone in our house reading it!

But here’s the deal—even those little seeds of faith caused us to go to church in our thirties, forever changing our lives. We never know what seed will germinate in our kids’ lives or when it will take off and grow. Take a look at these scriptures:

“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6; emphasis mine)

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4; emphasis mine)

Every farmer knows his harvest does not happen by accident. You may recall that I worked around produce, and I can tell you that almond and pistachio farmers do not just take a walk into a field on some random day and start harvesting the nuts. Farmers have to plan how they get and manage land, seeds, water, fertilizer, labor, shipping, and other variables. 

Training, discipline, and instruction are faith seeds we can plan in our children’s lives. Our job as parents is to plant seeds that can grow into faith.

Children have a part to play in the generational faith transfer, too. In Mark chapter 10, Jesus tells the story of a young man who wanted to follow Jesus. Jesus asked him if he had kept the commandments God gave to Moses. The young man said he had done so since birth, and then Jesus challenged him to go deeper. He told the young man to sell everything he owned, give it to the poor, and follow Him.

The young man went away sad. Why? Was it because he did not know God? No, his parents had taught him well. He went away sad because he chose to walk away from Jesus rather than sell the things he owned. The young man’s parents did everything they knew to train, discipline, and instruct him. The faith seeds they planted in his soul drew him to Jesus. We don’t know if this young man ever came to place faith in Jesus as Messiah or not, but we know his parents did their job.

They showed the young man enough about God to come face to face with Jesus. I’m praying with you that our kids can come face to face with Jesus because I know how much He loves them. 

What can you do today to plant seeds of faith in your kids’ lives?