FOR PERSONAL APPLICATION These aspects of the study can be used in between group sessions on your own, either with your spouse or individually as part of your devotional and confession life.
Do Something During the week ahead, turn your learning into doing.
During family devotions, talk to your children about your own struggle with selfishness, and admit that you need the grace of Jesus as much as they do. Give them instances of idolatry in your own life—the immaterial kind that is not evil in itself but is made so by overemphasis or priority. Tell them what you are doing to subdue idolatry. Ask them, but do not force them, to talk about their own
struggle with selfishness. Search Me, O God For introspection during the coming week.
Do I model God-awareness for my children, in both my talk and my walk? Do I make it clear to them, through my work ethic, language, friendships and church participation, that I submit to what God says is right and good and wise? Are there idols that I serve, openly in front of my children? Is that action undermining my otherwise good words and practices? In times of my children’s selfishness, do I sometimes use superficial correction? Am I too busy or too bothered? What selfish habits are they particularly prone to, that I can and should proactively address before the next conflict? Want to Know More? For a theological tour de force of how Christ has destroyed the sinful control that our old selfish self had over us, thereby freeing us to live holy lives, read and study Romans 6:1-14 . Note how, as always in Scripture, the imperative is rooted in the indicative . That is, Scripture first explains who God is and what he has done—the indicative—and then commands his people to act on that basis—the imperative. In this passage, the indicative extends through v.11 , and the imperative from that point through the conclusion. See how the apostle here gives the backstory to what he only summarized in the passage we read above, 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 . For More From Paul Tripp: [Insert resource information]
Session 7
GETTING TO THE HEART OF PARENTING
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