Parenting: Day 7
Lost
In this video, Paul David Tripp shows that as a parent, you're not just dealing with bad behavior. You're dealing with a condition that causes bad behavior. Children are in need of nothing less than the rescuing grace of Jesus.
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
As a parent, you're not just dealing with bad behavior. You're dealing with a condition that causes bad behavior. I love one of the way the Bible talks about the struggle of sinners. It talks about sinners being lost.
You see, the thing with your kids is that they are lost. What do lost people need? They need understanding, help, wisdom, and guidance.
One of the ways you can think about the lostness of your children is that every child ever born comes into the world believing two lies. The first lie is the lie of autonomy. That lie says, "My life belongs to me and I have the right to do whatever I want with my life." That lie of autonomy makes your children resist your authority.
The second lie is the lie of self-sufficiency. The lie of self-sufficiency says, "I have everything inside myself to be what I'm supposed to be and do what I'm supposed to do."
Both of those are destructive lies. They will wreck the lives of your children. Therefore, your children need to be rescued from themselves. They don't only need to be managed or controlled, but rescued—rescued by wisdom, understanding, guidance, and forgiving and transforming grace.
Look at your children today and don't just see little rebels. Don't just see children who make bad choices that drive you crazy or say things that hurt your feelings. Look into their eyes and see lost people and move toward them with the power of the rescuing grace of Jesus.