The Power of Relationships
Let’s think beyond the intentional teaching we do with our kids to consider the complexity of influence. Time together, energy to ask questions and listen, and playing together all play a part in the way we convey words of biblical wisdom and truths. Time and energy we spend enjoying our kids exponentially enhances the way they receive our influence. Encouragement and relationship work together—with one giving weight to the other.
The quality of the parent/child relationship affects the extent to which a parent influences the heart of their child. As we lean into the whole counsel of Deuteronomy 6:5–7, let’s discover that impressing biblical truths onto the hearts of our kids can best be carried out through a strong relationship.
Explore this with me through the acrostic R.E.L.A.T.E.
Relay truths in your home that echo the gospel.
Opportunities are plentiful within the overall routine and rhythm of our specific homes that can display biblical truths lived out. We live every day in family settings that demonstrate the gospel story and many of its attributes. Loving, forgiving, reconciling, showcasing belonging, and being known in the family give a foretaste of all that will one day be completed in Christ.
Elevate the health of your relationship with your kids.
Building a strong rapport with our kids takes time and effort on each parent’s part. Quite often we need to enter their world and join them in what they like to do. If she likes horses, go riding together. If he likes airplanes, find a place where you can eat ice cream together and watch them take off. For our kids to know we choose them causes a lasting reverberation that we care in their minds and hearts. Know that the quality of the relationship you have with your child is the vehicle that delivers anything you might want to pass on to them.
Lead your kids in building memories through shared experiences.
Ongoing traditions and patterns in our families’ lives can build toward a powerful sense of belonging that will live on past the moments that our children live in our home. Kids don’t have much awareness that these moments will become rich gold bars in their memory bank that will only gain in value. But we can know it. And when the memories of having fun together, being encouraged, listened to, and being challenged are wrapped in biblical truths lived out, these values are more likely to go with them when they are on their own.
Appreciate the significance of everyday influence and impact.
Be aware we can easily default to believing that discipling our kids is solely found in the times we are teaching them, such as in a family worship time. Although these times are essential, we have the privilege of discipling our kids in the daily rhythms of life. In fact, opportunities are found everywhere in the daily hum of family life to etch biblical truths into their hearts because our kids are seeing it lived out. They are learning and experiencing being comforted through sitting with them, seeing conflict resolution, being defended, understanding reconciliation after being disciplined, sensing that they belong to a cohort, and so much more. What an opportunity!
Take and invite your kids on epic adventures that are eternally based.
The quickening in our hearts that occurs when someone invites us along to reach others with the gospel can draw us in to an awareness of some powerful truths. This is especially true when we are asked to join in on an adventure by those who know us best—like a parent and child relationship. Values of that home are revealed when parents invite and elevate key convictions:
- Being invited along conveys the message that we not only believe and occasionally talk about it, but we are also moving the belief of reaching others into action.
- Crafting distinctives of your family is formidable in building overall family identity, especially those that convey your family takes the Great Commission seriously.
- Parents are leading the way toward a life of going toward hard and maybe difficult situations in sharing the gospel and claiming is worth it!
Enter into a commitment to get God’s Word in your heart!
The challenge of Deuteronomy 6:6 is for all believers. We must prioritize engaging Scripture and getting it into our hearts. We do this to know Him and to better know who we are because of Him. God’s Word in our hearts alters our parenting decisions and the outcome of where we are headed as a family. In fact, thousands of decisions will occur every year in your parenting choices, and we must have the conviction of biblical truths that direct those decisions. Many of these decisions are made in the immediate situation when we might not have time to process first. Make sure it’s the fruit of the Spirit that spills out of our choices.
Praying for you as you discover anew the power that is found in a strong relationship with your kids! Let’s go!
The power of influence isn’t found in grand moments, but in the daily, ordinary interactions of relationship—where faith is caught as much as it is taught. If this resonates with you, dive deeper into how God works through the seemingly ordinary in Linc’s new book, Mystery of the Ordinary. Discover how everyday moments hold extraordinary potential for shaping faith in your children.
