If someone asked you what you wanted most for your children. Your automatic response would properly be, “Success!”

As a follower of Christ, I’ve discovered things more important than success in and of itself.

Our time on earth is short, and eternity is sure to follow. James 4:14 describes life on earth as, “a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” This should help with the choices parents make.

Ways Eternity Should Change How We Think As Parent 

We Realize our kids are not our own. 

Being a parent naturally involves putting the needs of our kids above our own and sacrificing to provide for them. But ultimately, each child belongs to God. Psalm 127:3-4 says God gives them to us as a reward. When we think of children as solely “ours,” our goals and our desires for them become the focus. When we think of parenting as stewarding the gifts God gives us, it puts the focus back on what God wants for them, which may not always be what we want for them.

We will Have different priorities. 

To most people, wanting success for my children would be admirable, even expected. We’re called to teach our children there is more to life than the success the world tells you about. Knowing the love of God is the greatest thing we can desire for our children. Encouraging good grades and allowing kids to excel in sports is great. But teaching our kids to look for the lonely and the hurting, to love sacrificially, to forgive quickly, and to obey God’s Word is more important than anything else.

We will encourage and celebrate differently. 

The world tells us that our kids are defined by their accomplishments in school, on the playing field, and in comparison to others. But the Bible tells us to focus on their hearts, not their trophies. We’re to point our children to the love of God so much it becomes a way of life. They should hear about it day and night, they should see it in our houses and in how we live our lives. Our lives should be a picture of the Gospel, pointing others to Christ and celebrating when our children do the same. If someone asked me today what I want most for my children, my answer would be, “That they would love the Lord.”

Today, our children who love the Lord, whose confidence and trust are in Him, are blessed no matter what comes. “They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8). I can live in peace knowing that a child who follows the Lord will ultimately be blessed. Their roads may not look like I envision, but if they’re following God’s plan for their lives, I know it’s the best plan for them. Parenting with eternity in mind means remembering we have the opportunity to raise disciples who will make a difference in this world. We can leave a legacy that makes an eternal impact, one generation pointing the next generation to Jesus.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. ‘ (Prov. 22:6.) 

Let’s Pray 

Yahweh, I commit my children unto you. Father, supply whatever is wanting in me, through frailty or negligence. Strengthen them to overcome the corruptions of the world, to resist all solicitations to evil, whether from within or without and deliver them from the secret snares of the enemy. God, pour your grace into their hearts and confirm and multiply in them the gifts of Thy Holy Spirit, that they may daily grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ both now and throughout eternity, in Christ’s name. Amen.