The Drama of Redemption: The Fall into Sin

When you hear the word “Temptation,” what comes to mind?  Well, probably the thing that tempts you the most!  It might be gossip, stealing, lying, violence, greed, sex, porn, or any number of other things.  Last week we explored how temptation works and what sin does by looking at the very first sin.

The other week we remembered that God created the world and made us in his image so we would glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.  But something clearly went wrong… except it wasn’t because God messed up.  When Adam and Eve sinned, all creation fell into sin along with them.

Genesis 3 tells us about “The Fall” into sin.  I believe that Gen. 3:6 sets the pattern for how temptation works, check it out:

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”

There are a few things to notice here about how temptation worked on Eve (and how it works on us):

1. Eve “Saw the fruit of the tree was good for food.”  The fruit would fill a physical need.  How often have we said, “If God didn’t want me to _________, then why would he give me this need/desire?  It can’t be wrong!”
2. Eve “Saw the fruit of the tree was… pleasing to the eye.”  It simply looked good and pleasurable.  If it makes you happy and feel good, then it can’t be wrong… right?
3. Eve “Saw the fruit of the tree was… desirable for gaining wisdom.”  There was so much to gain by eating the fruit.  She would learn all sorts of things that she didn’t know.  Afterall, who wants to be naive and simple-minded?!
4. Eve “Gave some to her husband, who was with her.”  Sin spreads.  It’s contagious.  Eve sinned first, but Adam didn’t step in to protect her.  At some point, he should’ve stepped in and said, “Eve, honey, it’s time to walk away.  Let’s go.”  But he didn’t.  Maybe he “cared too much about their relationship” to risk stepping in, or maybe he was just as intrigued as she was – but either way, Adam didn’t help Eve resist temptation and once she sinned he soon followed her.

What actually happened here and what can we learn about temptation?

• Doubting God’s Word.  Satan started off, “Did God really say…” (v.1).  How many times do we convince ourselves that something isn’t sinful while we’re being tempted even though we really know it is.  When we doubt God’s Word and lose confidence in what God has said, then we give the enemy an open door to tempt us.
• Adding to God’s Word.  Eve responded to the serpent that the cannot eat from the tree or touch it or else they will die (v.3).  The problem here is that God never said they couldn’t touch the tree, He simply said not to eat its fruit.  On the surface, this really isn’t a big deal, but I think this points to the importance of remembering what God’s Word actually says.  It’s good to generally know what God has said, but it’s another thing completely to actually have His words memorized.
• Forgetting who God says you are.  Satan’s promise in v.5 is, “when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  Eve (and Adam, who was with her) obviously forgot that SHE ALREADY WAS LIKE GOD!  God created us “in his image.”  We don’t need to seek additional wisdom and promises from the enemy… we have more than we can even remember through God’s Word!

The rest of Genesis 3:14-21 describes what happened because of the Fall into Sin.  Everything changed because of Adam and Eve’s sin.  When they sinned, we all became sinners.  Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.”  Scripture repeatedly teaches that all people fell into sin when Adam & Eve sinned.

We are all natural born sinners.  We still bear God’s image, but we are like broken mirrors – reflecting God’s image, but not well.  Because of our sin, we have separated ourselves from God and have made ourselves guilty of sin and deserving of his wrath.

Next week, we will examine God’s amazing grace and how He redeems us from sin and judgment.

Final Questions to Consider:

• What sins are most tempting to you?
• How are those sins “Good for food, Pleasing to the eye, and Desirable for wisdom” to you?
• Are you spreading sin to others, or are they sharing their sin with you?
• How can you grow more confident in God’s Word?  What verse will you commit to memorize (I recommend starting off with Romans 12:1-2)?
•  Do you see yourself as a sinner, in need of God’s grace and mercy?  Or do you minimize sin so it’s not a big deal?
• What Christian friend can you commit to be “accountability partners” with, helping each other resist temptation and encouraging each other to pursue God’s grace when you do sin?

The Gospel is the Heart of Discipline

I’ve read a lot of parenting this books this year… my estimate is at least 12 in the last 12 months.  (I’m not that insecure in my parenting, they’re “research” for my D.Min. thesis – but they’ve been VERY helpful personally as I have a 4 year old and a 1 year old at home.)  Gospel-Powered Parenting by William Farley is easily the best parenting book I’ve come across so far (with the possible tie of “Age of Opportunity” by Paul David Tripp, but Tripp’s book is focused on parenting teenagers so while it’s more directly applicable to my studies it’s not as personally applicable… yet!).

Here’s the latest nugget I’ve been chewing on today:

The gospel should be at the heart of all attempts to discipline children.  The gospel affects discipline in two ways.  First, it motivates our discipline.  Second, communicating the gospel become the end of effective Christian discipline.

Effective discipline requires great resolve and perseverance.  No parent is equal to the task.  Some children require five spankings in a lifetime, others five every morning.

… Understanding the gospel and its implications for disciplining our children fortified Judy and me through these trials.  It helped in several ways:

• The gospel convinced us that indwelling sin was our children’s problem.
• The gospel convinced us that authority is a crucial parental issue.
• The gospel instructed us to pursue our children’s hearts rather than their behavior.
• The gospel motivated us to use discipline to preach the gospel to our children.
• The gospel motivated us to fear God.
• The gospel helped Judy and me to grow in humility and sincerity.

The Drama of Redemption: Creation

Why do you think God created the world, and people in particular?  Was it because he was bored?  Lonely?  The Westminster Shorter Catechism has famously declared, “The chief end of man (aka: the reason we were created) is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”  God created out of love, that we would worship Him and be filled with his joy as we worship.  We were created by God in His image in order to “mirror” him by glorifying/worshipping Him in everything we do, because we received joy when we honor God.

What’s it mean to “Glorify” God?  One of our high schoolers gave among the best definitions of “glorify” I’ve ever heard: she said, “It’s to recognize who God is and what he’s done and to show that to other by what you do.”  1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  Eating and Drinking are pretty normal things, not super-spiritual things – and yet we’re told to do them (along with whatever else we do) “for the glory of God.”

So what’s it look like to glorify God?

• When you’re in school and learning about biology, you recognize that God made your body to function so perfectly that every cell is designed to do a specific task.  Meanwhile, you also learn about the universe and how ridiculously small and “insignificant” planet Earth is when compared to all the galaxies far far away.  Just think: God created all those galaxies, and yet He cares for you so much that he sent Jesus to live and die and rise again for you!
• When you’re on the practice field, you want to use your physical body and athletic gifts to honor the One who gave them to you.  That means you practice hard, take care of your body, and play as a good teammate (that means you pass the ball when someone else has a better shot!) and you aren’t an arrogant glory-hog when you play well.
• When you’re home, you help with chores around the house, respect your parents, and are generally pleasant to be around.

Christian author, John Piper, has said “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”  Are you satisfied with God?  You were made to glorify God in everything you do, and to enjoy God forever!  Remember, en-joy, God wants to fill you with joy!  That doesn’t mean life is about being happy and living out the “American Dream,” because God often calls us to difficult things and He brings us through seasons of suffering – but He fills us with peace and joy even in the midst of those experiences.

Out of love, God created you to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever.  Don’t want until “forever” begins… start now.  That’s what God made you for.  Obviously, “something” (Sin, which we’ll discuss next week) has gone terribly wrong; but it’s absolutely necessary for us to remember WHY we are here and WHAT God made us to do.

Faithful Ministry to The Millennial Teen

Infographics like this cause me to ask a few questions (which I mostly don’t have answers to… thoughts, but no answers).  I’d love your thoughts on these too, leave a comment below.:

• How does all this technology impact teens’ prayer life?
• How should the prevalence of technology among Millennials influence how the local church communicates with their generation?
• Where’s the line between Contextualization (translating your message so it’s easily understood to your audience) and Selling Out (changing your message so it’s easily accepted by your audience)?

I’m convinced we have much to learn from the men and women who have faithfully served the Church throughout the centuries, learning from how they have seen the changes in their culture and responded by faithfully proclaiming the Gospel.  We must take the time to understand Millennials in order to effectively communicate the transforming power of the Gospel in a way that is both faithful to Scripture and Church History.  This isn’t a new, it’s  the challenge and opportunity that every generation has struggled with.

May we be found faithful.  Faithful to Christ, to his Bride (the Church), and to the emerging generations.

Dan Savage, Bullying Christians, & How We Should Respond

I know I’m about a week late on this blog post, and time is running short (hence, why it’s taken a week to write it)… but I think this is something that deserve a response. In case you haven’t heard, here’s a brief excerpt from Fox News’ story of Dan Savage’s presentation at an anti-bullying conference in Seattle last week:

Jake Naman knew something was about to happen.

The 18-year-old from Redlands, Calif., was sitting inside a cavernous building in Seattle waiting to hear from Dan Savage, the founder of the “It Gets Better” anti-bullying campaign.

Savage had been invited to speak to several thousand high school journalists attending a national conference hosted by the National Scholastic Press Association and the Journalism Education Association.

… “The Bible,” Savage said with a elongated pause.

“”The very second he said the Bible and paused, I knew it was going to get ugly,” Naman told Fox News. “It was about to be a bashing.”

And Naman was absolutely correct.

“We can learn to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about gay people – the same way we have learned to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about shellfish, about slavery, about dinner, about farming, about menstruation, about virginity, about masturbation,” Savage told the young students. “We ignore bullshit in the Bible about all sorts of things.”

You can watch the YouTube video, which was captured by someone in attendance, where Savage continues his rant against Christians while many Christian students walk out in silent protest. If you’re offended by the language, please keep in mind that this was a speech at a STUDENT assembly by a nationally respected speaker at an anti-bullying conference!

How Should Christian Respond?
Most of the responses I’ve seen online would describe themselves as RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION – let me explain.

Many of the blog posts and Facebook posts I’ve read seem to say something like this: “What a hypocrite, bullying Christians while telling us to be accepting of everyone else! If he said this about Muslims he would’ve been removed from the stage, but since he targeted Christians it’s ok?!” Sure, I agree… but I’d suggest a different response. Here’s my thinking:

1. Jesus said that we would be persecuted and rejected, so we shouldn’t be surprised. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” (John 15:18)
2. We should respond to persecution with love and prayer. Jesus said, “But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44 & Romans 12:20)
3. Responding with grace opens conversation; responding with “righteous indignation” reinforces our critics’ message. Proverbs 15:1 says, A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

This is an opportunity for us to demonstrate that power of the Gospel at work within us. I agree that this is a pretty clear-cut story of bullying that it highly ironic, but if we, as Christians, respond with anger (even if it’s a “godly” anger because we feel like we’re defending Jesus) then we’re losing sight of the Gospel.

In fact, he didn’t even try to defend himself before Pontius Pilate when he was on trial – he simply took the injustice. Jesus was crucified for offenses he didn’t commit, and he told his disciples they should be ready to carry their own crosses. The obvious difference, is we need to recognize that we are often more guilty than we realize.

In this particular case, we need to be willing to ask some hard questions.

• Have I bullied (knowingly or unknowingly) other people over issues of race, physical/mental/intellectual ability, religion, or sexuality?
• Who do I need to apologize to for hurt I have caused or careless words I have spoken?
• What is behind my persecutor’s words? How have other Christians (not me, but other Christians) hurt this person? (note: this goes a long way to understanding one another)
• How can I learn to Speak the Truth in Love?

Much truth has been ignored because it was not spoken in love. Much love has been useless because it has not been tied to truth. Much truth has not been spoken.

We must SPEAK the TRUTH in LOVE while we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

Looking at Cutting & Self-Harm

My friend and mentor, Walt Mueller, wrote a series of blog posts this week on cutting, which got me to realize that I’ve never adressed this issue online.  He’s far more qualified than I am to address this difficult and tragic issue, so I’d like offer just a few of my thoughts and then encourage you to read his posts:

1. Kids Who Cut – Part 1
2. Inside a Cutter’s Heart – Part 2
3. Caring for Cutters – Part 3 

What is Cutting?
“Cutting” is when a person uses a sharp object (like a razor blade or a knife) and cuts himself enough to draw blood.  Cutting is usually done on the wrist, forearms, or stomach – usually somewhere that’s easy for the cutter to access but not easy for others to notice.   It’s important to realize that cutting is not the same at attempted suicide, and most cutters are not suicidal.

Why Do People Cut?
Obviously, this question is the subject of many books written by professionals and can’t be fully dealt with here.  In one of Walt’s posts above he quotes a teen as saying, “I feel like there’s something terrible inside me that I have to get out any way that I can. I think that’s part of the reason why I have to bleed. Afterwards, I feel cleansed. I feel like whatever was crushing me before has been removed. I feel calm and in control.” 

People often turn to cutting when in order to either “feel something” when everything else in life makes them numb, or in order to be “in control” when everything else in life is completely out of their control.

The Hope Cutters Need
Clearly, these are people who are in great turmoil, pain, and confusion who are in need of the love of Christ and Christian hope.  Too often, cutters are simply referred to as “these people,” as if they’re just someone out there, but not in my group of friends and acquaintances.  I also want to be careful to make it clear – I’m assuming there are students in my youth group who have cut themselves.  The statistics simply lead to that conclusion.

As parents and youth workers, we need to keep this in mind.  Cutters can be people who might otherwise seem fine, in control, and happy… but there’s more turmoil under the surface than what we see on the outside.

Ultimately, cutters need what we all need: the love of God poured out for us through Jesus Christ.  We live in a broken, sinful, fallen world where sin corrupts relationships, lies are being sold as truth, and pleasure is promised to anyone who simply does whatever they feel like doing.

If you’re a cutter, here’s what I want to say to you:
The hope we have through Jesus Christ may not “fix” your family, your friends, or the broken relationships that have caused you so much pain.  Jesus saves, redeems, and heals – but that doesn’t mean it’s all an instant fix and that your life will suddenly become easier.  What Jesus does promise is God’s love, that He will change YOU so that you become more like Christ, and that when all is said and done, you can trust your life to Him.

God’s love for you is so great that he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to be cut for you and killed on the cross – he took the pain you feel onto himself, he saw the pain and abuse you’re trying to get control over – and he died in order to judge and bring an end to sin and all its effects.  By confessing your sin and your need for Jesus and declaring your trust in Him and what He did on the cross (and in his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension to heaven, where he is today), then he has covered you with his holiness and is with you always.  Learn to trust and obey him.  Read the Bible and learn about the hope and joy and peace He promises to give, even if the people around you are still a complete mess.  He may not pull you out of the storm, but he will give you strength to live through it.

• Hope and Healing for Kids Who Cut, by Marv Penner
• Help, My Kids are Hurting: A Survival Guide to Working With Students in Pain, by Marv Penner
• The Youth Worker’s Guide to Helping Teenagers In Crisis, by Rich Van Pelt and Jim Hancock
• The Parent’s Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis, by Rich Van Pelt and Jim Hancock

The Drama of Redemption: Introduction

The Bible is truly a remarkable book, unfortunately it’s often misunderstood.  The Bible is not a book about me and you, it’s a book about God.  We only find our place in God’s story as we understand the bigger story in which we live.  Too often, the Bible is merely a guide-book or instruction-manual filled with commands to “do this” and “don’t do that.”  If we miss out on the story being told through the Bible, then it makes sense to treat Scripture as a book filled with advice on how to live.

Instead, I want to encourage you to see Scripture as a secret.  Read it as a story that God has revealed to you, giving you special insight into the world and where you fit in this world.  It’s a secret… except it’s one we’re instructed to make known to everyone who will listen!

Who doesn’t love a good story?  Every good story (whether told in a book, a movie, or in person) follows a fairly consistent outline: Introduction, Conflict, Resolution, Conclusion.  The Bible follows a similar outline that helps us make sense of what we’re reading.

The Bible’s “Introduction” is the story of Creation (Gen. 1-2), where we are told where the Earth came from along with everything on it.  We discover that we were created in order to glorify and worship God in the context of a deeply intimate relationship.

However, this didn’t last for long, and we wouldn’t have done any better than Adam and Eve!  The entire Old Testament from Genesis 3 onward is a story about what theologians call “The Fall” of mankind.  In our fallen condition we are sinful, under God’s curse, and at war against God, each other, and nature.  Although the “event’ of The Fall occurs in Genesis 3, the entire rest of the Old Testament is spent painting a picture of the ongoing results of what happened because of Adam & Eve’s sin.

Throughout the Old Testament story, God reveals that Redemption is coming.  The conflict between God and his creation is going to be resolved, peace will be restored, intimacy between Creator and Created will be renewed.   The Redemption foreshadowed through Israel and the covenants is ultimately fulfilled through Christ.  Through Jesus’ sinless life, death, resurrection, and ascension our sin has been paid for and cancelled.

The Redeemed have been forgiven and adopted as children of God, given the promise of a glorious inheritance.  In God’s timing, Jesus will return again as Savior and Judge and will bring about the Restoration of creation.  Sin will be eternally judged, faith in Christ will be rewarded with the promised New Heavens & New Earth.

You see, you are a part of this story – you have a role as Storyteller.  As Storytellers, we need to understand the Drama of Redemption and faithfully tell it to people who are still under the curse of the Fall.  The story is easy enough to learn, but will take an eternity to master, so keep studying, keep learning, keep finding your place in God’s Story and keep sharing it with others.

Over the next few weeks we will be looking at this Drama of Redemption, scene by scene – Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration.

Reinventing Youth Ministry (Again) & Ministry to Parents

Reinventing Youth Ministry (Again) by Wayne Rice is one of the best Youth Ministry books I’ve read in years.  Rice has been credited as the “co-founder” of American Youth Ministry (along with Mike Yaconelli), so he certainly has the experience, wisdom, and credibility to provide such a critique of modern-day Youth Ministry.  Not only was did the book provide many behind-the-scenes looks at the history of Youth Specialties, but it raised many good and hard questions that every youth worker should be asking.  Despite being a fairly slow reader, even I read it in only three days – I just couldn’t put it down and kept picking it up whenever I had an extra 15 minutes.

It seems like one of the most “trendy” topics today in youth ministry is ministry to parents, and yet, it doesn’t really seem like anyone knows how to actually do it effectively.  I’ve read a fair number of books lately on churches (youth ministries in particular) and parents partnering together, and I think this book makes one of the best and most persuasive cases for how important it is for youth ministries to be partnering with parents.

Just yesterday on the Youth Ministry 360 Blog, Andy Blanks asks a great question (which has prompted this book review).  Here’s his question:

As youth workers, should the burden fall on us to train and equip our students’ parents to lead them in discipleship?

I think Rice’s book addresses this from a number of perspectives.  Ultimately, I’m convinced that the church ought to be equipping parents to disciple their children/teens.  Unfortunately, too often discipleship is often a litany of unstructured Bible-Studies which focus simply on the adults and rarely make the jump to help parents be equipped to teach and discuss such important truths with their children.  Therefore, many youth workers feel that if they don’t equip parents to disciple their teens, who will?

Here are a number of my favorite quotations from Reinventing Youth Ministry (Again):

“I have all the respect in the world for youth workers in the church, but I’ve become more and more convinced over the years that God never gave to youth workers the responsibility for making disciples of other people’s kids.” (p.24)

“It’s not youth ministry’s fault that we’re losing so many kids. …While youth ministry may serve as a convenient scape-goat, it is not the culprit here.” (p.11)

“That our youth are not getting the message is not necessarily because they haven’t heard it or aren’t being taught it.  But perhaps we’re sending other messages to teenagers that are just coming across a lot louder and clearer than the message we want them to hear.  The wholesale conversion of our teenager to a religion like MTD may be nothing more than the unintended result of a systematic weakness in how we pass faith on to the next generation.” (p. 67)

“The mistake we made in the past wasn’t so much the kind of programs we ran but in our reliance on them to keep kids coming to our youth groups.  Programs may keep kids coming, but they won’t keep them connected.  Truth is, they may even be counter-productive.” (p.101)

“I believe that the primary role of the youth pastor today should be focused more on equipping adults rather than teenagers.  If we truly want better long-term results and a youth ministry that won’t collapse when we leave, we must learn to work with adults – especially parents.” (p.124)

“I know that senior pastors usually have their plates full, but the vision and mission for youth ministry in a local church must come from the top.” (p.149)

“The church and the family are two of the most powerful and important institutions on the earth, both of them ordained by God to preserve and pass on the faith to each generation.  If we can get them working together in harmony, kids are not only going to be more likely to adopt the faith of their parents but hang onto it long after they leave home.” (p.170)

“Many churches, in their efforts to be relevant and responsive to the needs of young adults have marginalized and abandoned their old folks. … What bothers me is that the young people of the church are missing out on the incredible vitality and wisdom and spiritual strength of people like my aunt Mabel and other members of her generation who are no longer considered an important part of the church.” (p.181-2)

I know that’s a lot, but it provides a great snapshot to tell you why the whole book is worth the $12 and the time you’ll invest in reading it.  Rice’s reflections on the past four decades of youth ministry and the questions he asks about its future are significant for both youth workers, parents, and all church-leaders to consider.  Seriously, just read the book, you’ll be glad you did.

Don’t Short-Circuit Your Ministry

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to preach, which is something I always really enjoy doing (you can read the Sermon Summary here).  I love the process of studying the text, working through the exegesis and theology into a place where God’s Word transforms our lives.  I put a lot of work into ministry… which is why my drive home from church on Sunday morning was so painful.

I didn’t get much sleep Saturday night.  I’ll spare you the details why, but it’s not because I was being lazy or wasting time.  I got to bed a little after midnight, and had to wake up at 5:30 in order to get to church on time to be able to take care of various tasks before our 8:00 worship service began.  I’m not a morning person anyway, so the morning was rough.  First service came and went and I felt good about the content of the sermon and my delivery… then second service came and went and I didn’t feel so good.

I could feel my body shutting down on me.  I started to repeat myself more times than I wanted to.  I could hear myself speaking way more monotone than I ever like to be.  I got mispronounced a few words that I wouldn’t have otherwise messed up on.  I was frustrated with myself – because I was tired, and I knew I did it to myself.

The content was good, but the messenger was dragging because he didn’t take care of himself the night before.  Whether or not it’s a sermon or a youth group lesson or a Bible study or whatever your ministry is – don’t short-circuit yourself because you aren’t taking care of yourself.

Trust me, having something good and beneficial to say but failing because you didn’t get yourself to bed on time the night before is a killer.

What are some other ways we short-circuit ourselves in ministry?

(note: If you’re reading this and you’re from my church, please don’t take this as me looking for affirmation.  I’m fine, really, just sharing some reflections with other in order that we might all learn from something I’ve learned the hard way.)

Daddy Lesson: We’re All Selfish

My son is four years old and he’s got a ton of energy.  I love him to death, he’s just amazing and great… and exhausting.  He doesn’t really like to share his toys with his little sister and isn’t the biggest fan of having to obey his mom and dad (even though they’re amazingly brilliant and wise, of course).  We’ve been talking a lot about needing to share and be gentle when you don’t get what you want.

This leads to a conversation he had with my wife (his mom) the other day, completely out of the blue while they were doing something:

Son: It’s really hard for me.
Mom: What is, honey?
Son: I’ve been thinking about it.  It’s hard for me to when my friends at school say “no” when I ask if I can have their toys.
Mom: Oh… (dumbounded that a four-year-old was psychoanalyzing himself like that)…

Yeah… that conversation actually happened the other day.  But it got me to thinking – how much different is he really from the rest of us?  I’m just as selfish as he is – I don’t like it when I don’t get my way; I don’t like to take orders from other people when I’m in the middle of doing something I like doing; I want what I want when I want it.  I’ve just learned how to cope with the reality that I can’t actually get/do what I want all the time, and I’ve learned how to mask my selfishness so it doesn’t look as ugly as it really is.

So here’s my latest daddy lesson that I think is good for all us parents to remember (whether your kids are young like mine or teenagers, or older): You’re just as selfish as your kids are.  Maybe you’ve learned to suppress your selfishness and God has changed your heart, but by nature you’re every bit as selfish as your kids are… they get it from you!  It’s our job as parents to model SELFLESSness to our kids.

While our kids need to learn to obey their parents, we also need to show them what selflessness looks like when we don’t get our way either.