Keepers at Home Part Eight: Sheparding

Wait- let me get some Joe... Ok, I'm back.

What Sheparding means in our home is vital to training up the kids...today, parents of the world give, give, give but don't instill, instill, instill. We all love our kids. We all want what's best for them. But how many of us are willing to make the tough choices for them? What's easier for us is not always what's best for them. Raising the kids to believe in such non-mainstream Christianity is not just a list of do's and don'ts but a life of whys and becauses.

You cannot tell a child "don't touch the stove" over and over again without the temptation to touch it sneaking in. Instead, what do we do? We teach them about what "hot" is and how it can hurt...They KNOW what hot is by other examples of hot (hopefully not bad ones like when L decided to grab a light bulb after a lamp was turned off when she was four to see if it was still "hot". It was. ) So when they have been told don't touch AND ALSO what hot means, then temptation is gone....do you ever see a child walking around obviously thinking, "Man, I just WISH I could touch that hot stove..." No you don't, because you have not just said NO, you have instilled WHY. That is sheparding.

That was an example of sheparding their behavior. They are less likely to forget a rule if they know the reason behind it. They will be less likely to run after a ball in the road if they know a mac truck is potentially on the move...that we could all see sin so simply! Like a mac truck on the move...ready to run-us-down.
"But the ball, the ball" we cry! It looks so tempting rolling away from us....rolling, rolling...KABLAMMO! (Hopefully that was the sound of the truck smashing the rolling ball of temptation and not us in our sin chasing after it) Lol

It is the same way with sheparding their hearts.

We do not just say follow God and expect them to, we teach them the word daily, moment by moment, when we lie down and when we get up and when we walk by the way...we do don't we?
If not, we better.
See Deuteronomy 6:6-8 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

We don't just teach them that they can't date, we teach them why. The why makes perfect sense...they should have such a value on themselves from God's perspective, but it is not something imparted with ease...it takes every moment training, talking, working-it-out.
All of the "stuff" we really want them to do: keep their virginity, marry evenly yoked, stay respectful and obedient, follow the Lord CLOSELY...is not just in a 15 minute bible reading but in an every day working in of the Word and Godly living in our OWN lives as well...
Oh yes my friends, it is true. More Truth is caught then taught...at least for now...so RAIN DOWN Truth upon them in loving torrents! and if you are doing something that offends, CUT IT OFF.

So we don't just teach them "no", i.e. "the law" (which the bible says BRINGS FORTH sin) but we teach no and then FILL UP with Truth. There is a bible story of a man possessed with a demon and is cleansed but does "fill back up" with God's Truth, so seven more move in... yikes. If we just "clean the spiritual house" of our kids but don't fill back up with the meat of God's truth then we risk an even more dangerous potential.

Please, in school, do not make bible time a curriculum to get done. Don't read and answer questions, fill out worksheets or do bible word searches. Don't "devotional" your child straight into the arms of the world. Now, those things aren't bad in and of themselves...but to think that is "writing the word on their heart" is making a mockery of the Word. I'll try not to get preachy here but try to hear my heart.

Get some cocoa, light a candle, invite the holy spirit, get comfy and let the Lord lead. Do whatever it is your family likes to make it special, exciting, LIFE FILLED. Bible study is bar none, the most absolute favorite part of our day. It is when we are at our most intimate...we discuss everything that's going on in relation to the Word...Do not let it become drudgery. Set the scene...it is God's Word after all. Make bible time with your kids something they WILL NEVER forget. (that does not mean bible drills until they cry, people) but LOVE the Word. TALK about what it means and how it applies.

Case in point: My kids have seen LITTLE of the New Testament. (Some yes, but not nearly as much as the Old) We study study study the old and how it applies to life today. YES, the OT applies to life today!...every passage, every line has relevance and it too is also the living breathing word of God!!! By the time we make it to the NT, they will be ripe with anticipation and I dare say most accepting of that amazing truth that most of us all feasted on first in our walks...Ok, before I soap box on that one I shall move on... My point is that the fruit is THERE without even the NT because we talk about it-talk about it-talk about it. Apply it-apply it-apply it. We think about it, discuss it, use it, discipline with it, consume it, INHALE it.

Remember the story of the woman with the issue of blood? She just wanted to touch the hem of His garment. She knew His power. So do we. Reach for merely the hem and His power will overtake your life and the life of your kids! Glory to God!

You will knock out 99.9% of the chances of them going wrong if you shepard their heart. WORK not to break fellowship with them, restore it when you inevitably do...and do the tough stuff people. Discipline those kids....please. Lol