One of the most important things you can do for your children is teach them who they are in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 127:3 says, "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." A heritage is an inheritance, a legacy, something received from a parent. The psalmist was saying that children belong to God. First, they are His, and then He gives them back to us.

Your children need to feel that they are loved unconditionally, that they are of great worth—both to you and to God. You are to love and respect them as God's gifts to you. According to Deuteronomy 28:4, children are one of the blessings God bestows on us.

Every child born into this world is a one-of-a-kind divine creation, a unique person who is precious to God. He loves each of us so much that He gave the greatest, most precious gift He had—His only Son—so we could be with Him throughout eternity. God doesn't start loving us just when we accept Him as Savior. He loved us even before we were born.

Let's look at how the psalmist describes our God and how He sees us:

For You did form my inward parts, You did knit me together in my mother's womb.

I will confess and praise You, for You are fearful and wonderful, and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well.

My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being formed in secret and intricately and curiously wrought (as if embroidered with various colors) in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery]. Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days of my life were written, before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.

How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I could count them, they are more in number than the sand.
(Ps. 139:13-18 AMP)

This shows how precious our children are to God. Even before they were born, God had a plan all written out for their lives. He sent Jesus to die so they could have eternal life.

Do you feel that way about your children? Do you let them know how much you love and value them? Have you told them how much God loves and values them? If not, you should.

We are God's representatives to our children and it is important we show them Who God is. But it's equally as important that we show them who they are in Jesus Christ.


Source: How To Raise Your Kids In Troubled Times
by Buddy & Pat Harrison.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers