The RenewaNation Review 2020 The Collingsworth Family Special Edition | Page 31

REASON
3
WE WANT OUR CHILDREN
TO EXPERIENCE THE JOY AND
SATISFACTION THAT COMES
FROM LIVING IN HARMONY
WITH GOD’S LAW AND DESIGN
All of God’s laws are filled with God’s love. His laws were put
in place to protect us, not restrict us. When our girls were
little, they couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t allow them to
play in the street. They thought I was restricting them from
having fun when, in reality, I was saving them from getting
seriously hurt.
When we diligently teach our children the truth of God’s
Word and help them see all of life through the lens of God’s
Word, we set them up for a joyous life. We can never take
away all their pain or tragedy, but we can help them to live
under the blessings that come from living in harmony with
God’s good design.
“Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord” (Ps 119:1).
REASON
5
If we truly believe that every child will live
forever in heaven or hell, we should shudder at the possibil-
ity of them not making it to heaven. This life is simply a dot
on the never-ending line of eternity. When we fail to teach
our children the truth about God, we are setting them up for
eternal failure. This thought gets me up every day and drives
me to give my best to help one more child come to know
Christ and see all of life through a biblical lens.
REASON
REASON
4
WE WANT THEM TO CARRY
THE CHRISTIAN FAITH TO THE
GENERATIONS TO COME
In Judges 2:6-10, we see how quick faith
can be lost. We are told in this passage that Joshua and the
generation below him, who had seen the great things the
Lord had done, served the Lord. But by the time we get
to Joshua’s grandchildren, we read this: “And there arose
another generation after them who did not know the Lord
or the work that he had done for Israel.” How sad! I have
seen this pattern over and over again. When I was a full-
time pastor, non-Christians would file into my office and
tell me about their godly grandparents. They often would
tell me about the fond memories they had of a praying
grandmother or grandfather. However, they would then tell
how their parents had failed to pass on this same level of
faith to them.
Joshua’s grandchildren did not know about the great
things the Lord had done in the life of Israel or their grand-
father Joshua. If we hope to pass on the Christian faith to
the generations to come, we must be very intentional about
teaching them the truth and shielding them from the false
philosophies of the day.
WE WANT TO SPEND ALL OF
ETERNITY WITH OUR CHILDREN
AND GRANDCHILDREN
6
WE WANT THEM TO BE USED BY
GOD TO CHANGE OUR WORLD
I meet Christians across America who
have almost given up on our culture. We
watch the news, and it’s hard to fathom how far our nation
has fallen in such a short time. Things that were unthinkable
a few years ago are now major planks in political platforms.
At times, it’s overwhelming. Is there any real hope for our
nation? Yes, there is!
At Renewanation, we are diligently working to raise up a
new generation of Christian thinkers and leaders. In every
dark age in history, God chose to raise up men and women
who knew Him and His truth to turn the tide. We have
discovered that truth is like a lion. When you fill a young
person’s heart and mind with truth and unleash them on the
culture, they have an amazing impact.
We must forever lose our fatalistic views and choose to
believe once again that God is still on the throne of this
universe. He has given human beings the mandate to take
dominion of the earth and to bend it back toward His origi-
nal design. As parents and grandparents, we must work like
never before to ensure that the children God has placed in
our care learn the truth and are protected from the lies of
this culture. If we do this, they will live lives that transform
our darkened world. ■
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