great struggle to love the people you are supposed to love!”—our family members. Why is this difficult? Discuss some of your personal experiences with your children not loving one another. 4. What is the most authentic and effective means for teaching our children to love each other? (Hint: “You can’t teach love without loving.”) Do you always model a proper attitude to your children when assigning chores to them, correcting them, and having to provide for their unanticipated needs? Talk about why it is hard to do this consistently. 5. God’s learning community is also redemptive : we must cultivate in our children a solemn sense of their need of Christ’s forgiving and transforming grace. “If we hold up before our children the standard of love, they ought to begin to feel the weight of that standard because they don’t love God and their neighbor the way they should.” Why is it “a good thing” that children should feel bad about themselves in this way? 6. “I’m afraid we are all too skilled raising children in Christian homes who don’t feel like they need grace, who actually feel like they’re OK.” Which presents more of a problem in your household: unrighteousness, or self-righteousness? How can an unqualified “positive self-attitude” and “high self-esteem” be very harmful? Do you often talk to your children about the fact that they—like you—are sinners in desperate need of a Savior? And how do you clarify to them that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ alone, and not by our own works? How Did It Go Last Week? Share your successes and trials with the group. (10 minutes) What specific steps did you take to establish your home as God’s learning community? Talk about your experience in beginning to implement evening family devotions. What means were particularly helpful in teaching your children theology, specifically toward cultivating divine awe through God’s creation?
Session 2
GETTING TO THE HEART OF PARENTING
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