Food for the Soul

Does this happen to you? You bring the groceries home, a mix of healthy and not so healthy. Within a day or two all the “good” stuff is cleaned out of the shelves and only the healthy stuff is left. You can count on those looks you get from your kids of utter dismay when they hunt in the pantry for chips or cookies and there are none to be found. We want our kids to eat healthy - it’s just part of being a parent. The way we as parents feel about making sure our children have good nutrition is how God feels about our souls. Jesus said it this way:

I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35

Jesus, God’s son who gave up his life on the cross to save us is our bread. How do our children eat this bread? They eat it by listening to him through his Words of his truth and love in the Bible.

If I just give my kids God’s rules and teach them to make decisions that will have good consequences, then are their souls eating a healthy diet in God’s eyes? Kids need lots of boundaries and rules. They can make decisions and see if they work or not for them. But rules and consequences are still just rules and consequences. Where is Jesus? Where is his bread?

This is what the Perfect Parent says about the reason we, including our children, do the right thing – and surprisingly it isn’t about rules or that the consequences of our decisions work for our benefit.

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all and therefor all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

The love of God that we can never hope to earn or be worthy of is what actually makes us want to obey. God says his love makes us want to do the right thing, not so things go well for us, but for him who has saved us!

So, what’s the use of rules and consequences? Rules or as God calls them his law, serve a huge purpose. They are a guide so we know what God wants. They keep us from doing something crazy that will mess up our lives and the people’s lives around us.

But, the biggest and most beautiful reason we have rules is to show how much we need the Bread of Life, Jesus. When a child realizes the depth of his sin, he realizes the depth of the love of Jesus for him. Disciplining is one of the most beautiful times to lead a child back to the cross, to Jesus dying there for him. Then, he eats the bread of life. Then his soul is fed with food that saves.

A Daily Prayer
Dear Jesus, help us to trust your love and feed our children’s souls with your message of salvation. You promise that your love compels us to live for you. Give us wisdom as we teach our children about your law and your love. Amen.