I’ve heard it said, “We can’t make our children believe. We can only give our children reason to believe what we believe.” That’s a wise observation—but how do we do it?
Of all people to take parenting advice from, the apostle Paul is seldom the first choice. It’s likely that he had no children. Parents prefer to hear from someone who’s been-there-done-that, someone who knows about sleepless infants, the storms of puberty, and how it feels to pray for a prodigal. Yet Paul has something to teach us here.
Paul had been on his way to persecute Christians when Christ intervened. Paul fell to the ground, blinded (Acts 9:1-9). Soon he was visited by Ananias who restored his sight and explained his mission: “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard” (22:14-15). Paul did witness, and God gave him a quiver-full of spiritual offspring. His “parenting approach” was to share what he’d seen, and to pray.
Whether parenting our own children or interacting with others, we can’t make them believe. Rather, we witness with our words and lives as to what we’ve seen and heard. And we pray. Our God, who sent Paul to the gentiles, sends us with the same instruction: witness so they may believe. Then entrust them to our Father who loves them.
