Temporary Custody

Temporary Custody

I heard a great illustration from Paul Tripp the other day.  He was sharing his thoughts about why parents are often way over stressed. He shared how each day a parent gets up and begins to over load a backpack.  They put their children’s welfare into the backpack. They place the need to protect their children into the backpack. They then grab their children’s spiritual condition and throw it in.  By the time they are done with packing, they can barely walk due to the heavy load of responsibility.  In that instance, what is being forgotten is the role that God plays in the lives of our children. God is the one truly in charge of the welfare of our children.  He is the one, in the end, who is the provider.  He is the only one who can change them spiritually.  When we take on the role that he alone is meant to fulfill, we take on stress.  Stress that we are not created to carry.
The proper way to think about our children is that they are a gift from God.  We are given temporary custody.  We are to be good stewards of the gifts that God has given to us.  But, ultimately, they are his. God is the giver of life.  He numbers our days.  He, everyday, is aware of the numbers of hairs on our head.  He not only knows but he sustains.  We know this, we just sometimes forget.  We love our children and so we try to protect them.  That is part of our role as a temporary custodian.  Part of the protection of our children by God is that he uses us as parents.  It is when we begin to believe that we alone are their sole protectors that we take on stress we are not meant to carry.  
My biggest fear as a parent is that my children would not walk with Jesus.  Of course, I wanted my children to pray for salvation at an early age but true salvation is marked by changed lives that walk with Jesus.  All of eternity is at stake.  Therefore, it is tremendously important that I do right as their temporary custodian. One of the first things I needed to learn was that I was totally powerless to exact any spiritual change in my children.  I could force them to outwardly do Christian things but that was not the eternal change I was praying for.  That realization, that I could not change them spiritually, led to a great amount of prayer, living an honest walk with Jesus in front of them, and placing before them the life changing truths of the Word of God.  I could do those things. They did not bring stress but in reality, they relieved great stress. Trusting that my loving heavenly Father loved my children even more than I did allowed me to give my children into his hands.  They were his anyway.
This Sunday is Mother’s Day.  I know a great deal of great mothers.  My mom is probably the greatest mom ever.  Each of the great mothers I know believe, first and foremost, that while they play an important role as a mother, their children are gifts from God.  Their role is to prepare their children to walk with Jesus and to follow him where ever he chooses to lead them.  They realize that their influence, protection, provision and love for their children will have a great impact on the life of their children but, ultimately, God is the one who is responsible.  
While I hope that my children will always know they can come to me anytime they need, I also hope they know that I am not enough.  I will do my best to be the hands and feet of Jesus in their lives but, in the end, my goal will be to point them to the one who owns their lives. He alone is what is best for my children.