Make Jesus Famous

This post is going to hurt…

Right now, my children are not in love with Jesus, it’s heartbreaking because I know how wonderful He is and how worthy He is and how much my boys are missing out on.

My boys are good boys, they aren’t out partying and carousing and doing the things that rebellious teenagers and 20 somethings do; they are usually at home, spending time with each other and with their crazy parents, they are going to church because they know we want them to, they are bowing their heads when we pray over dinner, they are going through the motions but have vocalized their doubts and maybe even unbelief.

And it makes this mom wonder…did I show my kids what it looks like to make Jesus #1?

There’s a difference between teaching them and showing them.  We’ve said all most of the right things, put them in the programs (Sunday School, Awana, Youth Group), sent them to camp and on mission trips.  But what about the other things?  Did we give up that basketball game or team so we could pursue Christ more?  Did we say ‘no’ to Music events, school plays, school activities that coincided with church events?  Did we make excuses for the birthday parties, the golf match, the once-in-a-life-time opportunity? Even if these activities aren’t on Sundays…did it consume all the other days so we had nothing else?  It seemed that we started out with “good” intentions to keep Christ first in every part of our lives and then what’s his name is really good at this and he is getting a lot of recognition for this or that and it’s only a couple of times a year this is going to happen and slowly these things become important somehow…how did this become #1 in my child’s life?  Wait…how did it not? I was at every match cheering him on, telling him he could do all things through Christ, give God the glory, praise Him when you win and praise Him when you lose.  And those are good things…right?  Yes, they are...I tried to teach them things along the way about grace and mercy.... But we put so much importance on doing well and competition (everything is a competition) that defeat and losing are not in our vocabulary and we become consumed with being the best, winning, and before you know it…there’s not room for anything or anyone else.

We fool ourselves and take for granted that God is constant and that if we miss a couple of times every now and then it’s not really going to have an impact on my spiritual walk.  Now, I’m not trying to be legalistic, God’s grace is sufficient.  I’m pointing out that when we put more emphasis on the worldly things (even though they are fun and even make us proud) then we are going to lose something.  That something will be time spent with our Lord, time spent hearing and reading His Word, time spent in fellowship with believers, time spent pursuing Christ and knowing Him more.  Because, in the end, none of this matters, only Jesus…  It doesn’t matter if my kid was prom king or the hall monitor or the star athlete…it’s about the Kingdom.  Did I make Jesus famous? So famous that they wanted to be like Him, know Him, love Him more than anything this world could ever offer?

These are the things you look back on when your kids are grown and you wonder where the time went.  Yes, I wish I would have done more to point them to Christ and I wish I would have cut out some of the things that eventually would consume a lot of their time.  Where do I go from here?  “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23  An awesome reminder of the amazing Savior I serve.  My boys are going to come back to the Lord, God has given me a great gift of peace about this and I am so thankful.  I will continue to speak truth into their lives and love them like Jesus.  I cannot save them but I can point them to the One that can and I will do that with every part of my life.