Build Right—Right From the Start

2001

Is that the only value in those things? In guitar, basketball -- letting them pursue that and encouraging them to really do it well and before God and the character that it develops, and the kingdom principles it sets up and the opportunities towards the heart being refined?

Well, that’s a load right there! That’s the way you have to look at it. There’s the value of the window into the heart and the soul by the process of being engaged in it. “Will I have the self-discipline to approach this properly rather than be sloppy or lazy about it? Will I respond well when things don’t go the way I want it to?” There’s a window into the soul. There’s a process of character building and discipline. There are relationships and opportunities that it opens up with other people. There is a window into God’s soul through the process of what music even is or what competition is. To be able to see something about God in that.

So there are a ton of things in it, but as an end in itself, obviously not. We shouldn’t let any of us or our children view it as an end in itself. Why do other people do it? Well, who cares? Here’s why we’re going to do it or we’re not going to do it. There are at least four or five major, major reasons that a variety of those kinds of things are very healthy to do. They’re not to be pushed aside as meaningless, unspiritual rubbish, but for the right reasons those are incredibly meaningful things. It’s just that we can’t lose our way and misfocus in the process. We can’t fall in love with the world and the things of the world and lose God in the process.

What about in the case of children that aren’t real active, that really don’t want to get involved in anything? Be it guitar or any kind of activities. Do you really push for that and encourage that? Do you try to get them involved?

If it’s a weak spot for them, if it’s a character thing…Something that some guys are doing with some of our young guys in the 6-8 year-old range is basically boot camp of different forms of competition. Whether it’s sitting at a table with words and numbers or it’s out in the field with a rope and a tug of war. We’re looking at especially the ones that don’t have the heart for the battle. We say, “Push, push, push!”

Just trying to help them see what it means to develop an attitude of fighting the good fight, running the race to win, not just to survive. Some basic principles of entering the kingdom by force, if it’s not natural to them. If it is natural, there are some things to repent of, and if it’s not natural, there are some things to be built into them. So yeah, we look for weak spots, areas of blindness, areas of lack of engagement or involvement or passivity in this area or that. Because if it’s in God’s character, we want them to have it.

When they’re six is a great time to start, whether it’s violin that they don’t maybe necessarily like it. So what? There’s a place for it. Whether they like it or not, there is a place for the discipline and the learning and the being under authority and the time management. There’s a place for all that. Not just in the business sense of time management, but just to say, “I will buffet my body. I will make myself do something because someone who is important to me, that I love, that has authority over me has asked me to. That is my motivation. That is sufficient motivation, without any whining.” These are really important things.