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I Want To Be Like Daddy!
Some years ago as I was driving, I received an SMS from my wife. When I stopped at the next red light, I promptly checked the message, which read, "David says when he grows up, he wants to be like daddy." Awww бн isn't that so sweet! David, my five-year old son wants to be like me. I felt such a sense of pride swell from deep within me. The driver next to me must have wondered why this guy was smiling so broadly to himself. But I didn't care at all. I just basked in the knowledge that I was my boy's hero and his role model. Hey, my son wants to be like me!
As I patted myself on the back and swirled in my own glory, the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit spoke into my heart. Gently, He asked, "What about you will he be like?" That question pricked and burst my pride bubble and brought me back to reality. I never saw that at all. God was right, as He always is. What about me will my son be like? I began to realize what God was telling me бн my son will not only learn the positive things about me; the negative things will also be picked up, whether I intend it or not.
For sure, there is a lack of godly role models today - in homes, in schools, in the workplace, in society, in the world, and sadly, even in the church. As a result, biblical heroes like Moses, David, and Joshua appear only as nice Sunday School figures with little or no practical application to today's world. Soon, the idea of God becomes a ritual, a chore and a bore to our little ones. Little wonder then that so many children of Christian families grow up and leave the church.
Like it or not, our children will observe and learn from us. It won't take them long to discover that their parents are also sinful, disobedient and inconsistent. We tell them to read their Bibles while we read the latest magazines. We urge them to spend time with God while we spend time with friends. We tell them to rest in God while we slog 16-hour days. We tell them not to conform to the world but they see us trying to keep up with the latest trends. We tell them to love their enemies while we curse our bosses and in-laws. Are we guilty of being do-as-I-say-and-not-as-I-do parents?
Without godly role models in the lives of our children, we should then not be surprised when we find them gravitating towards models of this world. Not that these are not inspiring, but we must be quick to question the values and beliefs of such friends and celebrities. Very often, these run counter to what is godly and biblical. Are we then in such a dire state that there is no hope for our children? Definitely not! You can make a decision today to be that godly role model right in the heart of your home. Permit me to suggest the following first steps:
- Repent and confess that you have not lived right before the Lord, your spouse and your child/children.
- Declare as any child would declare with childlike faith бн "I want to be like Daddy!" Not to be like our earthly parents, but to be like our heavenly Father. Jesus said in Matthew 5:48, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."
- Acknowledge that to be like the Father is to be like the Son.
- Ask and allow the Holy Spirit to change and transform you from within that you will become more and more like Jesus. As you make Him your role model, you will then become the role model that God intends you to be.
Determine to be a godly role model to your children today. For too long, parents have hoped that others can help teach and train their children. This is clearly not God's intent at all. Instead, God desires that we each walk right before Him first that our children's lives can also be impacted in the same way for His glory and His Kingdom.
My personal prayer today if I should receive a similar SMS? That my children will "imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ" (1 Cor 11:1).
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