A friend recently shared with me that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She’s a single parent of an eleven-year-old daughter, and when her daughter overheard a conversation about her diagnosis, things began to unravel. They are both terrified. The anxiety is showing up in her daughter in ways she couldn’t have expected, and my friend said, “If something happens to me, I don’t know who’s going to raise her. I don’t have any family members that could be her guardian.” The angst in her voice broke my heart. I could hear how incredibly fearful she was. She felt as if she had no hope, and because of this, her daughter had no anchor and perceived from her mother that there was no foundation on which to build their hopes.
1Peter 5:7 tells us to give all our worries and cares to God, because He cares for us. God loves us, and He wants to help, but if you don’t know how much He loves you, and you’ve never put all your hope in Him, the world can be a very hideous place. As parents, one of the fundamental lessons that we must teach our children is how to have hope. God holds us responsible for doing this. Proverbs 22:6(NLT) teaches us, “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.” Heavenly Father expects us to direct our children down the right path. It’s the path that leads to Him, and it was revealed by our Master Jesus.
Jesus Christ is our hope! 1Peter 3:15(NLT) instructs, “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.” There is no greater gift to give our children than teaching them to have hope in Jesus Christ. This doesn’t mean that we must be perfect, none of us are. Life can be very challenging at times, and we don’t need to try to hide this from our kids, but they do need to see us handling these challenges with faith in God, so they will have faith in Him as well.
The Apostle Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:16(NLT), “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.” God’s Holy Spirit abides within the born-again believer. This verse tells us that through His Spirit that abides within, God empowers us with inner strength. God’s Word is alive and powerful (Hebrews 4:12) As we study His Word and grow in Christ, it does wonderful things for us internally. The benefits of knowing God’s Word and wearing it like a second skin are too numerous to count. When our confidence is strong because we trust and believe God’s Word, we carry a certain strength and others pick up on it.
Our children can sense it as well. Sure, they can tell when we are afraid, but they can also sense when our faith is anchored in God. As parents, especially single parents, we sometimes feel as though we are all our children have, but this isn’t true. We belong to God, and our children belong to Him too.
When things are going well, many of us don’t think about the possibility that they could go horribly wrong without warning, but life sometimes behaves this way. We are not powerless. Our God equipped us and in Ephesians 6:11, He tells us to put on all His armor so that we can stand strong. We shouldn’t wait until things get tough to start building faith. Now is the time to begin building the strength of God within ourselves through His Word, then we can leave this tremendous legacy for our children. They will know that they are never alone, and that through God all things are possible. They will have confidence in Him because we will have shown them how to anchor their hope in Christ, and Romans 5:5 declares that it is a hope that will not disappoint.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Teach Them To Place Their Hope in Christ”, written by Kim Times for Springfield Fellowship, Inc.©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!
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