"Wearing dad's shoes"
"Then I warned their children not to follow in their parents' footsteps, defiling themselves with their idols. `I am the Lord your God,' I told them. `Follow my decrees, pay attention to my regulations, and keep my Sabbath days holy, for they are a sign to remind you that I am the Lord your God.'
"But their children, too, rebelled against me. They refused to keep my decrees and follow my regulations, even though obedience would have given them life. And they also violated my Sabbath days. So again I threatened to pour out my fury on them in the wilderness. (Ezekiel 20:18-21 NLT)
I remember when I was a kid I used to enjoy wearing my dad's clothes. My brother showed me a picture even tonight of his son who fell asleep in his dad's shoes just the other day. I remember wearing my dad's jacket as it drug the floor & wearing his shoes that made me look one red nose away from being Bozo.
Long story short, I wanted to be just like my dad. I would even stand in the family room & pretend to preach like him. What is it about sons that they want to be like their dad? What is it about children that they emulate their parents? No matter why it happens, the fact that it does happen is sobering.
I'm just 7 short months from having an emulator around my house. This is a scary thought. What responsibility.
The Bible reveals here in Ezekiel & elsewhere that one of the most powerful truths we can teach our kids is something that doesn't contain words. They will follow not just what we say but even more what we do. If we follow Christ, it is likely they will too. If we don't, neither will they. There are exceptions but this passage establishes this pattern as the rule. Our kids imitate us.
As a parent or future parent, what is there in our lives that needs cutting out? What is there that we need to add to our lives? Is there anything in us that we don't want our kids to emulate? What about something that we don't do that we would want them to follow?
I believe the answers to these questions show us exactly where we are with the Lord & where he wants us to be in leading our families.
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