Parenting: Day 1

Calling

In this first video, Paul David Tripp shares how important it is to keep in view the big picture of parenting amidst the press of life. What in life is more important than being one of God's tools for the forming of a human soul?

About the Book

What is your calling as a parent?

In the midst of folding laundry, coordinating carpool schedules, and breaking up fights, many parents get lost. Feeling pressure to do everything “right” and raise up “good” children, it’s easy to lose sight of our ultimate purpose as parents in the quest for practical tips and guaranteed formulas.

In Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family, Paul David Tripp offers parents much more than a to-do list. Instead, he presents us with a big-picture view of God’s plan for us as parents. Outlining fourteen foundational principles centered on the gospel, he shows that we need more than the latest parenting strategy or list of techniques. Rather, we need the rescuing grace of God—grace that has the power to shape how we view everything we do as parents.

Freed from the burden of trying to manufacture life-change in our children’s hearts, we can embrace a grand perspective of parenting overflowing with vision, purpose, and joy.

Video Transcript

It is so important in the press of everyday life—in the busyness of everyday parenting—to keep the big picture in view. And here’s the big picture: What in life could be more important than to be one of God’s tools for the forming of a human soul?

Let that sink in. God has placed you on site as a parent to form the most significant thoughts and desires and choices in the heart and life of a child; to help a child get to know God’s world and what it’s all about.

You can’t let anything get in the way of that. Your possessions might get in the way of that priority if they become more important to you than they actually are, and create tension between you and your children. Work success can take you away and demand so much time and effort and energy. Even ministry commitments can get in the way of this significant, valuable thing—parenting.

If you are a parent, perhaps you should write on a card: Nothing is more important in my life than to be God’s tool for the forming of a human soul. Tape that card to the mirror you look at every morning as a reminder to keep the big picture in mind. This way, every day you will be encouraged to parent your children with a sense of the holiness and importance of the thing to which God has called you as a parent.