Making Time For God

Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Later Simon and the others went out to find him. When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.” But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.” So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons.” – Mark1 :35-39 

In the above passage, Jesus gets up early and finds a place to pray before He begins his busy day.  The disciples went looking for Him because they did not understand the importance He placed on spending time with God. Our children need to learn the lesson of spending time with God. In order to learn to spend time with God, we as parents must be spend time with our children to invest in their lives and in their eternity. 

Because of the hectic lives so many parents are living today, children can be deprived of the one thing they need the most—quality and quantity time with their parents. It is easy to view being a successful parent because we are providing our kids with more things. But scripture reveals that the main thing they need from us . . . is us.  In Deuteronomy 6:5-9, we find some amazing verses that emphasize the importance of investing spiritually in the lives of our children. In these verses, we are taught that the most important thing we can give our children is the proper understanding of who God is and how they can know Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.

But this text reveals that this is a lengthy process, and it requires us to be proactive. Notice what the text says about how we should do this: “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children…”

“Talk about them when you are at home.

And when you are on the road.

When you are going to bed.

And when you are getting up.

Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.

Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

These simple phrases provide us with an understanding that raising Home Run Kids is not a Sunday event. We have to spend time every day living our faith and teaching our faith, if we want our children to grow up to be men and women of God. It all depends on spending intentional time. 

Discussion Questions:

1. How much time do our kids need? How did you calculate that number?
2. Our schedules are stretched pretty thin. How can we create more time for our kids?
3. Parenting is being a role model, counselor, and coach. Agree or disagree?
4. If the goal is to raise Home Run Kids, how can we use our time more wisely?