Three Gifts to Give Your Children

“So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.” Matthew 7:11 NLT

We need to worry less about today’s happiness and more about tomorrow’s readiness.

Giving Hurts When ...

1. We give them things they didn’t earn.

• One of the best things we can do is give our children the blessing of earning the blessings.

2. We give them praise they don’t deserve.

• It’s better to praise the process than to praise the person.

3. We give them freedoms they can’t handle.

The Shema

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NIV

3 Gifts to Give Your Children

1. A community worth having.

2. A standard worth achieving.

3. A faith worth sharing.

1. A community worth having.

• Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Deuteronomy 6:4 NIV

• Who and what you expose your children to will shape who they become and what they believe.

• Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble. Proverbs 13:20 NLT

• You can’t pick your children’s friends, but you can influence the environments you put them in.

2. A standard worth achieving.

• Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV

3. A faith worth sharing.

• Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 6:7 NIV