Soul and Spirit

Christian parents abandoning their children seems so contrary to logic. At least.

Contrary to God. At most.

Oh, I don’t mean abandoning them in the sense of leaving them derelict and alone to fend for themselves somewhere. Or even abandoning them to the care of someone else.

I mean abandoning them in their own home.

A friend of mine on Facebook (yeah; I know) linked to this article by Rachel Jankovic. Read it to learn what I’m driving at above.

Have you given your life to your children resentfully? Do you tally every thing you do for them like a loan shark tallies debts? Or do you give them life the way God gave it to us—freely?

It isn’t enough to pretend. You might fool a few people. That person in line at the store might believe you when you plaster on a fake smile, but your children won’t. They know exactly where they stand with you. They know the things that you rate above them. They know everything you resent and hold against them. They know that you faked a cheerful answer to that lady, only to whisper threats or bark at them in the car.

[…]

Sacrifice for your children in places that only they will know about. Put their value ahead of yours. Grow them up in the clean air of gospel living. Your testimony to the gospel in the little details of your life is more valuable to them than you can imagine. If you tell them the gospel, but live to yourself, they will never believe it. Give your life for theirs every day, joyfully. Lay down pettiness. Lay down fussiness. Lay down resentment about the dishes, about the laundry, about how no one knows how hard you work.

Stop clinging to yourself and cling to the cross.

I don’t know much of anything about the author. Nor do I know much of anything about John Piper. But I do think it worth your while (be you mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, or none of the above) to read the entire piece: Motherhood Is a Calling (And Where Your Children Rank).