This week, Todd urged all current or potential parents to resolve to be the best parents possible for their children. In doing so, he gave us a list of 16 principles every parent should be instilling within their children. Click here to view the message, "16 Things to Convince Your Children of Before 16."
16 Things Your Children Wish You Had Built Into Them Before They Were 16
1. God’s Word is life giving & worth giving your life to.
2. Life is not about you.
3. Next to who you follow, who you follow with is going to shape who you are.
4. People around you today are full of worth, but they aren’t worth all you think.
5. Money is not a ticket to freedom; it is a tool, a test, & a testimony.
6. Pornography is not just a lie, it is lethal.
7. Sex is not just intercourse.
8. Sex is not dirty, but outside of marriage it is damaging.
9. Dating in high school is a date with trouble.
10. Life is hard.
11. You can’t be whatever you want to be when you grow up, but you can be all you should be.
12. It’s called work for a reason, but it isn’t a curse.
13. Lies abound in most of what you see, read and hear. Be discerning and guard your heart.
14. Failure is not fatal, failing to try can be.
15. I love you.
16. God is love, full of grace & full of good.
Discussion Questions
- If you are a parent, which of these 16 principles do you need to begin instilling within your children this week? How will you do that? Is there a particular principle that seems most difficult for you to implement? How will you rely upon the Lord to help you train up your children in the way they should go, (Proverbs 22:6)?
- Parents, take time this week to humbly ask your children what they see to be the greatest passion within each of your lives. If it is anything other than the passionate pursuit of knowing God through the study & obedience of His Word, what changes need to be made?
- Parents are to resolve to be the best parents for their children, not the best friends of their children. In what circumstances are you tempted to not speak up or not discipline your children because you would rather be your child’s best friend than your child’s best parent?
- Todd gave us several statistics relating to pornography, including the fact that the #1 consumer of pornography today is 12 to 17-year-old boys. In addition, 33% of pornography viewers today are female. Parents, how are you actively monitoring the content on your child’s – son or daughter – smart phone?
- How are you informing and training up your children to have a biblical view of sex?
- For all potential parents out there, how are you currently training in the truth of God’s Word, that you may be prepared in all wisdom for the day when the Lord may choose to entrust you with children of your own?