ARTICLES

Have you heard of the 4 to 14 window? That’s the age when people are most likely to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. In 2015, the National Association of Evangelicals polled their membership to learn at what age members made this most important decision of their lives.

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can hold all kinds of emotions for us. For some of us it’s a joyful day and we give loving sentiments to our parent and receive them from children. For others of us it’s a hard day because a relationship with a child or parent is difficult, or we’ve lost a child or parent. Every mention of the day can pour salt into a wound.

If children grow up believing there’s nothing worth dying for, they’ll end up feeling like there’s nothing worth living for.

Why is it that when a preacher or a priest commits an immoral act, it’s bigger news than when, say a plumber, commits the same act? It’s because ministry is a character profession. Guess what? Parenting is a character profession too. We must practice integrity before we can transfer it to our children.

All kinds of digital screens are flashing worldly values in front of kids at a pace that feels impossible to keep up with. What can we do to combat media values?

Have you ever struggled with assurance of your salvation? If you have, you can be certain that children do too. Today I want to help you, help them, have assurance of their salvation.

Rest is underrated by kids. A Johns Hopkins study shows kids need 8 to 8 ½ hours of sleep a night, and that increases by another hour into the teen years. Spiritual rest is underrated as well.

Our spiritual life is made up of several individual skills or disciplines. Do your kids or the kids you teach in church participate in sports? Or do they have a favorite athletic activity? If so, you have an opportunity to use it as an illustration to help kids understand spiritual health.

Athletes learn to care about diet, exercise, skill and rest. They want to get every possible edge in order to do well. My kids are always trying to come up with the best protein shake or recovery drink, the best exercise to improve that weak muscle, and the best technique to master a particular skill. Great attention to even small details can make all the difference. We’ll be looking at these areas of diet, exercise, skills and rest one at a time to think about how to use them as illustrations for our children.