Making Deposits

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

3 John 1:4

A comedian once quipped, “If the new father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right.”

You can increase the odds! In 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12, the apostle Paul tells the Thessalonian Christians that he dealt with them as a father deals with his own children, “encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” (NIV).

Those are the three things we must do for our children if we’re to have the joy of seeing them walk in truth. Children need our encouragement. Have you told your children today that you’re proud of them? Pointed out a strength? Thanked them for a task well done? Given them a high five?

Children need our comfort. Take time to hold, reassure, and gently share a verse of comfort with your children in a moment of disappointment or discouragement.

Children need to hear us urging them to live God-worthy lives, directing them to Christ and to His Word. What can you do today to encourage, comfort, and urge your children?

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.

CHARLES SWINDOLL