Jesus Grew

Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people. Luke 2:52

WHAT MUST IT have been like to be the parents of Jesus? Imagine parenting a sinless child. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Of course the fact that Jesus was sinless doesn’t mean that he was born fully formed with no need for his human parents. Parenting Jesus meant parenting a child going through the process of growing up. And though this verse doesn’t tell us everything we’d like to know about what that was like, it is clear that Jesus grew in all of the ways we want our own children to grow. Over the years of his childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, Jesus grew. He changed. He developed. While the Holy Spirit was clearly at work through the Scriptures in the development of Jesus, his parents were certainly a key part of the process.

Likewise, as parents we have a significant role in the process of how our children develop and who they will become. But it is not all up to us. We need the Holy Spirit to work through his Word in the lives of our children.

We want our children to grow in wisdom. This is less about good grades than it is about godly living. We want to see steady growth, not just in their knowledge of the Scriptures, but also in their ability to apply God’s truth to their relationships, priorities, and pursuits. We want our children to grow in stature. Long after the pediatrician is assigning our child a number on the growth chart, we want to see that our children are healthy in body and mind, healthy in habits, and healthy in terms of body image as well as eating and drinking to the glory of God. We want our children to develop a life under God’s favor. We want them to experience what it means for God to smile on them because of their connection to Jesus. And finally, we want them to have good relationships with the people around them.

Lord, I am desperate for wisdom from you to know how best to guide ________ toward growth in wisdom, how to encourage ________ to embrace favor with you through Christ, and how to model to ________ the way to love others well in this world. Give me the patient perseverance I need for the long-haul task of parenting.