Teaching Your Children to Follow

And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.

─ 1 Corinthians 11:1 NLT

As parents, we do everything we can to help our children avoid the hurts and disappointments in life that we’ve experienced. We want their lives to be so much more than our own. One powerful way to invest in future generations is to lead our children to seek God’s approval.

Children have a strong desire to belong. They want to know they fit somewhere and are a part of something. We have the honor and responsibility to show them how they fit into God’s family, mirroring that in our own family. They naturally seek our approval, especially when they are young.

It’s important to teach them to seek God’s approval instead of yours. 1 Corinthians 11:1 is a powerful principle – if you encourage them to follow you as you follow Christ, they’ll automatically seek God’s approval and have yours as well.

You can encourage your children to seek God’s approval in very practical ways:

• Encourage them to pray about the things that concern them.
• Help them discover what the Bible says about seeking God’s approval.
• Show them how to search God’s Word to learn what His desire is for them in any situation they face.
• Look for teachable moments: use examples from your life to help your children see how you follow Christ in everyday life.

Today’s One Thing

Examine circumstances going on in your own life where you need to seek God’s approval. Look at ways you can demonstrate how you follow Christ in this situation. Share this example with your children this week.

Receive Devotionals like This in Your Email