Parenting: Day 14

Mercy

In this video, Paul David Tripp shows that no parent gives mercy better than the one who realizes that he desperately needs it himself.

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

No parent gives mercy better than the parent who is deeply persuaded that he needs it himself. I want to welcome you to embrace the reality of who you are. The truth is, as parents, we're more like our children than unlike them. I can be so impatient. I can be so irritable. I can say such unkind things. I can be so needlessly critical. I can take my bad day out on little ones who are not responsible for it. When I'm humbly able to say, "It's impossible for me to do the things that God has called me to do without his mercy," then I want that mercy for my children too. It's that tenderness of heart that makes me tender with my children.

The bottom line is this: parenting is a lifelong mission of mercy. In a real way, you're called to be God's first responders. What does a first responder do? He's propelled by awareness of need and a courageous desire to meet that need with a rescue that he can offer.

First responders aren't just there to judge or criticize or give you a lecture about how you got yourself in the mess. Imagine if you're in a burning building and your first responder just lectures you about fire safety and walks away—you're in deep trouble! You see, parenting is about more. Yes, you want your children to be aware of how they got themselves in the situation that they're in. But you want to rescue them with mercy, with forgiveness, with wisdom, with guidance, with help, with love. In moments where your children need your help remember your need of mercy and rush toward them with the power and the beauty of God's mercy.