Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Loving our children

I've had a trying and convicting few days with my children, and wanted to share what I was just convicted of (in the hopes that, in making it public, it will stick with me more!). I was reading 1 Peter 4:8 and wondering how this applies to our children. It says:
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
First, I like to start with definitions. So, here are some keys:
"Covers over" = "to hinder the knowledge of a thing." It is also translated "veil."
"Sins" = "an act, the violation of, or want of obedience to the revealed will of God; a state, absence of righteousness; a nature, enmity toward God."

So, how does this apply to our children?
(1) We should love our children constantly, continually, perpetually - whether they are "loveable" or not (translate: even when they are throwing a monster temper tantrum and "accidentally" kick you in the face!).
(2) We should take no notice of offense (and with children, there are many!).
(3) We should not "aggravate" their sins or "spread them abroad." We don't walk around airing the sins of our Christian brothers and sisters - why do we air the sins of our children?
(4) We are to forgive them as Christ forgave us - not holding our child's sin against them and immediately restoring our relationship with them.

I think #3 hit me the hardest. As 1 Cor. 13:5-6 says, " . . . Love . . . keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth." How often have I sat down with other moms and aired the sins of my children, internally keeping a record of wrongs so I could share how "tough" my day was? How often have I shown delight in evil by recounting all the ways my child wronged me? It's amazing to me how I keep coming back to this point - the foundation of the Law is that we love one another. I think Mommy needs to seek someone's forgiveness today . . .

2 comments:

Wendy said...

i'm not a mom, but #3 still hit me the hardest, too. really good stuff.

Anonymous said...

ditto to the above