It is important for every family member to remember to model Christ during the day. My husband and I do the best we can to model Jesus for our son Daniel. What does this look like?
How can you model Christ as a parent?
You know the saying some parents tell their kids, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Well, kids don’t really do that. Kids do as you do, not necessarily as you say.
Be intentional about reading your bible and worshipping God in front of them. You may do this when you wake up in bed as well, but make sure your children truly see you spending time with God in front of them.
Does your life look any different than the world? It is a process and takes spending time with the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to change us for us to be different. We tell our son, you are not the same as the world. You are made to be unique and different. Why would people want to know God if our lives do not image the fruits of the spirit?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 ESV
I was not always the most patient driver on the road. I remember a time when I was really upset at what another driver did and said “idiot” out loud. Of course, the other driver could not hear or see me. But, my son spoke up in the back and asked why I called someone a name. It really caught me by surprise. Instead of trying to justify my behavior, I realized he was right. I apologized and explained that we are not to call others names or lose our cool like that. The last thing I want is for our son to become an impatient, angry person, because of what I was modeling.
I am sure I could go into way more examples, but what I really want you to take away from this is to be intentional and realize you are your child’s biggest role model and imager of Christ. Do not expect the pastors or youth pastors to be that example for your kids. They only see them once or twice a week, but they see you every day.
Related Post: Check out our blog post, Six Prayers for Your Family
How can your kids model Christ?
Your kids are disciples that are being deployed into the world. They are little light-bearers and carriers of the kingdom. This morning we made sure to remind him that when he goes to school, plays sports, or is out in the world, he is representing Jesus. The two win’s we reminded him of today are to learn something new in school and to model Jesus well.
Here are a few practical examples for your kids:
– If someone is making fun of another kid or the teacher, do not participate or laugh. How would this make you feel? You may say that is not nice and/or tell the teacher.
– If someone does not have any friends, invite them to play with you. No one likes to feel excluded. Be an includer. It is a beautiful thing.
– Sometimes people will not be so nice to you and say mean things. You are not meant to do the same back to them. We always remind Daniel that hurting people hurt people. You never know what is going on in their lives. Instead, ignore the comments (they will stop at some point) and pray to forgive them and that they will come to know Jesus. We just had to do this after Daniel’s football game last week. The other team was calling his team a bunch of names during the game, and the boys on our team were very upset about it. Daniel told us more about it after the game, so we were sure to talk and pray about it before bed.
Each of your family members can model Christ. We hope that this post helps inspire you and your children to model Jesus in your everyday lives. Please feel free to drop us a comment below with some more examples. We love to hear from you!