Parenting: Day 10

Character

In this video, Paul David Tripp offers the important insight that not every wrong thing your child does is a direct rebellion to authority. Much of that wrong is a result of the need for character development.

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 really is true—not every wrong thing your child does is a direct rebellion to authority. Much of that wrong is a result of character, or maybe bad character, or lack of character, or the need for character development.

Think about the way God works in all of our lives. In his justifying grace, he forgives us for our rebellion against him, gives us a new heart. But, he's not done. He works then by long-term, progressive grace to change us at the level of character, at the level of the heart.

The Bible says something so significant when it talks about character. It connects character to the worship of your child's heart. You may say, "I don't know what that means." Well, maybe the tricky word in that statement is the word worship.

Your child doesn't just worship on Sunday. Your child worships through every moment of every day. You could argue that the only thing your child does is worship. What does that mean? There's something always ruling the heart of your child. Your child is always living for something. What rules the heart of your child will then control his thoughts, desires, choices, and actions.

Every character moment gives you an opportunity to talk about the most important thing in human life: worship. Everything in your child—every moment in his life—is meant to be lived with God in view. Don't just hunt for rebellion. Look with joy for those character moments, because they give an opportunity to talk about the most important thing in human life.