The first thing that a sinful heart causes us to do is to believe a lie that dates all the way back to the garden. The lie that we can be independent from God.
For kids, the bottom line is they are asserting they don’t need, or want, a parent to guide them.
But behind the behavior, whether good or bad, something on our inside is hooked to something dangerous on the outside, and it continually pulls us away from God, without any effort on our own.
Hell is not for those who don’t do good deeds. It’s a matter of the heart. But when you hear of heaven or hell your mind goes straight to good or bad behavior
Behind the behavior, whether good or bad, something on our inside is hooked to something dangerous on the outside, and it continually pulls us away from God, without any effort on our own.
So our concern isn’t so much with bad behavior as it is with what is causing the bad behavior.
GOD
Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
Luke 15 gives 3 stories that Jesus told about being lost and then found. The lost sheep, one of a hundred; the lost coin, one of ten; the two sons, and both of them are lost until the father finds them.
Many times Jesus looked past the behavior and into their heart – for example: Zachias and the rich young ruler
This makes us ask, why does God love us?
APPLICATION
Why do we love God? Did you build a house for your mom so that she would like you more? You built her a house to pay her back? You built her a house because you want other people to see what a good person you are? Because she needs it? No. I’m doing for her what she did for me. Only a mother understands why a child did it. The reason lives in the love.
Did my mom know that my dad loved her? Because she knew he had his heart. He had given his heart to her.
What did my dad get out of my mom? Somebody to love. Do you know what else he got out of my mom? Someone who loved him. It was all about love, it was all about the heart. Who they had given their life to.
VISION
People want to know, does the heart really change?
Here is good news. As parents, while we have no ability to change our child’s heart, Jesus does.
Sanctification takes time. Lost and being found is not a one time thing.
Our question is not are they good or bad, our question is where is their heart. Are they right with God.
Our goal is a destination but like in life, you never arrive at the horizon. What have you accomplished in the recent or distant past?
We are indeed growing spiritually, our hearts are changing but it’s hard for us to notice. But we notice it in others. When they go through a crisis they end up reacting differently, in a more Christlike way, then we see their heart changing. Another way we see change is when we admit to being wrong. We’re not afraid of that anymore.
We need God to parent us in our love for him and our children need us to parent their love for God.
