We were driving down Old Mt Vernon Road tonight headed to Mercy Hospital then Home Depot. As I listened to 101.9 FM KNWS on the radio my ears perked up when I heard the name John Piper in the same sentence as ”his prodigal son” Abraham
John Piper is a widely respected Christian author and pastor. He’s a little deep for me but he’s the real deal. And to think that even he and his wife had dealt with a prodigal son in some strange way gave me hope.
At this point in my parenting journey, I am still carrying the heartache of prodigal children- Fortunately, we have great lines of communication with each of them,so I’m not going to post something on the internet to in any way jeopardize that.
Here’s a portion of what I heard on the radio tonight:
When I was 19, I decided I’d be honest and stop saying I was a Christian.
At first, I pretended that my reasoning was high-minded and philosophical. But really I just wanted to drink gallons of cheap sangria and sleep around. Four years of this and I was strung out, stupefied and generally pretty low. Especially when I was sober or alone.
My parents, who are strong believers and who raised their kids as well as any parents I’ve ever seen, were broken-hearted and baffled. I’m sure they wondered why the child the tried to raise right was such a ridiculous screw-up now. But God was in control.
One Tuesday morning before 8 o’clock, I went to the library to check my e-mail. I had a message from a girl I’d met a few weeks before, and her e-mail mentioned a verse in Romans. I went down to the Circle K and bought a 40-ounce can of Miller High Life for $1.29. Then I went back to where I was staying, rolled a few cigarettes, cracked open my drin, and started reading Romans. I wanted to read the verse from the e-mail, but I couldn’t remember what it was, so I started at the beginning of the book By the time I got to chapter 10, the beer was gone, the ashtray needed emptying and I was a Christian.
The best way I know to describe what happened to me that morning is that God made it possible for me to love Jesus. When He makes this possible and at the same time gives you a glimpse of the true wonder of Jesus, it is impossible to resist His call.
Looking back on my years of rejecting Christ, I offer these suggestions to help you reach your wayward child so that they too, would wake up to Christ’s amazing power to save even the worst of us.
1. Point them to Christ
Your rebellious child’s real problem is not drugs, or sex or cigarettes or porn or laziness or crime or cussing or slovenliness or homosexuality or being in a punk band. The real problem is that your child doesn’t see Jesus clearly. The best thing you can do for rebellious children-
4. Don’t expect them to be Christlike
If your son is not a Christian, he won’t act like one, and it’s hypocrisy if he does. If he has forsaken your faith, he has little motivation to live by your standards, and you have little reason to expect him to.
If he’s struggling to believe in Jesus, there is little significance in his admitting that it’s wrong to get wasted, for instance. You want to protect him, yes, but his most dangerous problem is unbelief- not partying….
12. Point them to Christ
This can’t be stressed enough. It’s the whole point. No strategy for reaching your son or daughter will have any lasting effect if the underlying goal isn’t to help them know Jesus.
The goal is not that they will be good kids again. It’s not that they’ll get their hair cut and start taking showers….the goal is not for you to stop being embarrassed at your weekly Bible study or even for you to be able to sleep at night, knowing they’re not going to hell…”
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If you’d like to read this whole letter check out this link
Well, we’ve been invited out for dinner so I need to go- DM
Tags: attitude, Christianity, discipleship, faith, family, parenting, pastors, personal, spirituality, thoughts, Uncategorized
November 27, 2009 at 5:42 pm |
Wow. That’s just great. Piper always seem to have something encouraging to say. Thanks!
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And Rebecca- That was written by his son Abraham so you can see the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree as we say in these parts.
November 28, 2009 at 9:33 am |
That is some great advice. Reminds me a bit of Billy and Franklin Graham too and their dynamic
November 28, 2009 at 4:53 pm |
The Bible is filled with promises for our children and grandchildren if we ourselves walk wholeheartedly with the Lord. Pretty amazing, huh?
Because of this revelation many years ago, I learned to love my children and enjoy them where they were and not where I wanted them to be. It’s a great revelation to wake up and realize: “I’m not Jesus.”
December 4, 2009 at 7:24 pm |
DM, the thing you mentioned about having great lines of communication are so much more important than if a grown child were warming a pew week after week without any true relationship with Christ.
I groan every time I hear my mom say that so and so’s kids are no longer in the church and how she prays every day that they’ll come back to the church. None of these so called kids speak to their parents anymore or the relationship is repressed in some way.
Celebrate the connection with your children and keep looking down that spiritual road.