Don't Misrepresent God

2001

Why did that come up? It had to do with the children not wanting to do something? Boot camp and all that…

Oh yeah. Right. For instance, the violin -- look, I hate this thing! I can’t do it, but because it has value to you, the one I love and the one who has authority in my life, I will pour my whole heart into it. It’ll mean everything to me! Not because it does in itself, but because it does to you, it will mean everything to me. And that’s a pure heart. That’s what we entrust to our children. That’s what we call them to with a tug of war or a spelling bee or whatever it would happen to be. We call them to that intensity of a pure heart and help them to separate from what they feel like they’re good at, what they feel like they like, to what they can do for the one who loves them and has authority in their life. And that their passion would be connected to the passion of the one that gives them life. Rather than their circumstances and what they would’ve wanted otherwise. That’s a pure heart and a good conscience it to not violate that. And a sincere faith is to see it the way God sees it and to live that way unwaveringly.

How does it fit in again with the children if they want to do something. “I want to play soccer” or this or that. It’s something they naturally want to do. Do you just go with that when they are 6 or 7 years old. As long as you can’t see a reason why they shouldn’t you get in there with them and help them learn in that experience. Do you just let them do it because they want to and you know you can use that somehow as a tool?

I wouldn’t press it so far as to say, “Just because they want to.” But, you can fish your way around. There are going to be limitations. There’s going to be four things they want to do, but realistically when you look at the load that’s going to place on you from your time and energy and expense and all that kind of stuff, you can see how that’s going to rob you of some vitality. Of some opportunity to sense and smell the roses of God because you’re busy doing something all the time. You’re going to have to curtail some of their desires. Some of them you’re going to be able to go along with.

Although even then there needs to be such a loose hold on it. They need to be trained right from the outset to have a very loose hold on this thing. If perhaps they gain their desire, they don’t own it even then. It’s a blessing, it’s not their property. You can let that help you navigate a little bit, but there’s an overload point which is unacceptable. And also even when you let that navigate you a little bit, absolutely they have to see it and be taught clearly from a kingdom vantage point what value this has. Why they’re doing it, what they should be looking for and how they should view themselves. How they should view the authorities in their life and their work ethic. Their ability to walk across a pitching mound and right off the field in the middle of a game. To see it all the way God sees it right from the outset.

That’s again the way we have to build, to make sure that they see everything all the way through from God’s perspective and that we don’t leave any leeway for other stuff. It’s tempting to either ignore it because we’re blind ourselves, we don’t even see it. Or to think that it’s merciful and wise and kind and loving to just overlook it and give them a little pat on the shoulder, “Well, now, now, now...”

We’ve got a lot of opportunities to mislead them and misrepresent God. These are the only windows we have. They’re getting a little older, and it’s over with essentially. If they make bad choices and start moving the wrong direction, there is very little we can do once the momentum starts going that way. These are the years where we need to make sure that we’re very sensitive to the small things and help them build in the right way with what things we do give them to do. We need to view it that way. It’s not what things they are running us around with, it’s what things we give them to do. We’re managing their assets for them. We’re giving them things to do. And if we don’t view it that way, if we let them run us around and then try to drive from the back seat, we’re making a mistake that they will regret and we will regret for a long time.