As we invest in our children according to God’s plan, He will do the same for us. He will provide wisdom for our parenting. When we fail to model God to our children perfectly, He will cover us with His grace. We can trust our children to God because His love for them is greater than our love.
If you’ve ever played Monopoly, you may recall the Chance cards. Some of them gave a monetary payoff for stocks that prospered. Others required the player to pay money for a stock loss. In real life, we should realize anyone who claims to have a “sure thing” in the investment world is probably out to cheat you. Investing always has inherent risks. If you choose to risk financially, it’s best to learn basic investment principles from an expert.
God calls parents to invest in their children. Most moms and dads innately understand this concept. They pour all their love and energy into parenting, hoping to produce decent, grown human beings. Considering the risk involved with raising kids, shouldn’t we seek an expert to learn the correct principles for investing in our children?
God’s Word is the primary handbook for parents. In Deuteronomy, God delivered the ten commandments to His people through His servant, Moses. Then He told His people to invest the righteousness from His commandments into their children from one generation to the next. If they properly followed His commands, He promised they would multiply (Exodus 6:3). Unlike our human investment gurus, God’s Word is always rock solid.
5 Principles for Investing in Your Children
In the verses following the ten commandments, parents can draw five principles for investing His righteousness in their children.
1. Cultivate your own love relationship with God.
And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. (Deuteronomy 6:5-6 NLT)
God designed us primarily for our relationship with Himself. Without this connection firmly established, relationships with others will suffer. We cannot allow any idol to take first place in our hearts. In the past, God’s people carved idols from wood and stone. Today we turn work, money, approval, our children, and many other things into idols.
Loving the Lord with all our souls means being fully devoted to God. He must be magnified holistically so He is apparent in every aspect of our lives. We should express the same commitment to God from our private thoughts to our outward deeds.
God tells us to love Him with all our strength. In other words, we should give everything we have to serve Him. Using strength involves effort. While we don’t work for salvation, we do work to know and serve God better. Commit to studying His Word. Go to church to learn from others. Be the hands and feet of Jesus to people in need.
2. Incorporate God into everything you talk about with your children.
Repeat them again and again to 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. (Deuteronomy 6:7 NLT)
Most parents already know children require repetition to learn. We should never think they will internalize a message with only one telling. Even when they acquire a skill or idea at one developmental level, it will take on new meaning as they progress to the next stage of development. That’s why schools repeat subjects such as history several times throughout twelve grades.
Talking with your children takes time. We can’t sit them down for an hour every week and lecture them about God. Everyday events provide fodder for spiritual discussions. The natural world offers lessons about God’s character. For example, if you garden with your children, talk about the effects of weeds on plant growth and compare it to sin in their lives. The more time we spend with our children, the more opportunities we will have to share God’s ways.
3. Model God’s commandments as you do life together.
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. (Deuteronomy 6:8-9 NLT)
In these verses, God tells His people to attach His commands to their bodies and hang them in their homes. Eventually, God’s people literally wore clothing with tiny versions of His Word sewn in; God’s meaning was more figurative. He wanted His people to keep His commands in their thoughts, with the work of their hands, and within the privacy of their own homes.p
With God’s help, parents must live out what they believe about God. Children instinctively weed out hypocrisy, so our words and actions must match. We cannot shut God out of any part of our lives. If we confine God’s influence to only certain parts of our lives, our kids will learn He’s unimportant and controlled by our whims.
4. Create protective boundaries around your family.
The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 6:10a NLT)
God designated a land with established geographical boundaries for His people. While we don’t know His reasons for the specific location, He clearly told them not to intermingle with anyone outside the borders. God didn’t make this rule because He hates foreigners. He set limits because they did not follow His ways. They worshiped impotent idols. He knew leaving their borders would corrupt His people, and they would diverge from following His commandments.
In the same way, parents should protect their children. We avoid influences that bring false and dangerous ideologies that lure kids away from God. We cannot assume media is harmless because it’s animated or rated PG. We must be watchful of school curricula and involved in decision-making. Repeated exposure to beliefs contrary to God before your children have matured enough to evaluate and resist lies properly will imperil their hearts.
As they demonstrate readiness, they learn about the world’s belief system together. You can guide their thinking and answer questions as you deepen the conversation.
5. Expect God’s blessings and thank Him.
It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. (Deuteronomy 6:10b-11 NLT)
After God gave His people the blueprint for investing His righteousness into their children, He outlined the blessings of following Him. In this case, He promised they would have homes, abundant produce, and plenty of fresh water. In other words, He would provide more than enough for their needs.
As we invest in our children according to God’s plan, He will do the same for us. He will provide wisdom for our parenting. When we fail to model God to our children perfectly, He will cover us with His grace. We can trust our children to God because His love for them is greater than our love.
Long-Term Investing
The value of stocks on the market has ups and downs. Often, they will remain steady for a time only to fluctuate wildly in response to changing economic pressures. Stockbrokers develop nerves of steel to weather the risks.
Parents experience the same type of ride as they invest in their children for the long term. Since God gave each child free will to choose how to respond to Him, we have no guaranteed outcome. Yet we can stand firm through the years of uncertainty. We don’t grow nervous during the bear market of parenting because we know God’s love for our children far exceeds our own.
