Yesterday on Twitter, Kirk Cameron tweeted a link to an article titled, “The Danger of Living For Your Children.” I was intrigued, so I clicked the link and read the article. After reading, I remembered seeing a woman on television. Her son was deploying to Afghanistan with a local Army Reserve unit, and she was briefly interviewed for the news. Dolorous and distressed, she said, “There goes my heart, my soul, my life… my everything.” Rebecca and I looked at each other and our simultaneous response was, “Seriously?”
I was also reminded of a scene from C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce. A lady named Pamela comes to Heaven and talks with her brother Reginald, but all she can think about, all she wants to see, all she worships is her son, Michael. I’m a loving parent of three boys, but I could not identify with her obsessive desire for her son. She placed him above God, above her brother, above herself… above everything. And she would use any means–God or devil–to see her son. He was her all-in-all.
As I said, I am a loving father of three boys (two teens and a tween!). I raised them as a single parent for 7 years, and during that time we developed a deep bond that is unbreakable. I love them dearly. A. Lot. But ultimately, my greatest love is God. And I know that God loves me and my sons more than I ever could. I also know that my boys don’t belong to me. They belong to God. And He has entrusted them to me to love, train, and teach what it means to follow Christ, study His Word, go to Him in prayer, and also what it means to be a man. But my greatest responsibility is to teach them to love God first and most–as I do. This, Jesus said, is the greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:37-38). The first Commandment, recorded in Exodus 20:3 says, “You shall have no other Gods before Me.” If you place your children–or anything or anyone else for that matter–before God, you should beware lest He remove them from their pedestal.
There is great liberty and peace in giving your children to God. I worship only God. Sure, I love, enjoy, and take great pride in my sons… but I do not live for them. I live for God alone.
In Christ’s perfect love,
Dwight
The Parson
