I love this picture of our family taken over Christmas break at the Miami Beach Bowl.

As you look at the picture, I am sure that you notice something about my daughter in the picture. She was not concerned about looking at the camera. Instead, she was solely focused on the trophy.

The more I look and laugh at that picture, the more I realize that this is the battle we face each day as parents.

I love this picture of our family taken over Christmas break at the Miami Beach Bowl.

As you look at the picture, I am sure that you notice something about my daughter in the picture. She was not concerned about looking at the camera. Instead, she was solely focused on the trophy.

The more I look and laugh at that picture, the more I realize that this is the battle we face each day as parents.

Are our children looking more to the things of this world or more towards the things of God?

It is our job as parents to make sure our kids are focused more on God’s glory than their own. The world is constantly bombarding them with image after image suggesting that life is all about them. The vision of manhood and womanhood has been blurred. Truth has been redefined. Self sufficient, self-directed lives are promoted and the results are clear.

Focusing on the world’s trophies leads to pride. This fleshes out in having rude, impolite kids who share very little respect to others.

It leads to a generation of children who choose the love of pleasure over the pleasure of God. We find a generation who question the truth of the gospel because they hate the practice of it. So who’s to blame?

As parents, we are called to be the primary teachers, counselors, and coaches in our children’s lives. Sadly, our fear of opinion often hinders us from fulfilling the role that God has called us to as parents.

We become dead fish families that simply float along with the current of the culture. So how do we point our kids and families towards the one thing that truly matters? Here are five suggestions:

1. Make it a daily priority to root our children in the existence and the glory of God.
2. Take advantage of every opportunity to put a Godward focus on the mundane moments of life.
3. Focus on heart issues rather than surface solutions.
4. Don’t communicate to our children that they would somehow be better off if they more like us. Teach them to be more like Jesus.
5. Don’t point our kids toward something we are not willing to follow ourselves.

I pray that our homes are a picture of redemptive community and that we can point our kids to God’s glory and not their own.