Giving Your Child the Best Life Possible

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. — John 17:14

I remember as a young parent loving my kids so much that I wanted to protect them from anything bad. It was so hard, though, because we didn’t have the money for everything they wanted. We didn’t have a perfect family life they could grow up in, and their teachers and peers weren’t perfect either. Trying to give our kids heaven on earth just didn’t work.

When I read this verse and saw what was on Jesus’s heart the night before he died I saw how off I had become. The only thing that matters to Jesus is where my kids would live forever. If I tried to give them everything they wanted, I only gave them an ultimate disappointment. God gives them the reality of life forever without any taint of evil.

Real love of a father for his children is not making heaven on earth for them. It is the love of Jesus who made the way for broken families to live forever with him in heaven.

A Daily Prayer:
Dear Jesus, replace my desire for my kids to have everything they can on this earth with your desire that they have everything in you forever. Amen.