Parenting Tips From David Platt

I had the honor of hearing David Platt speak at the D6 Conference yesterday.  David is the pastor of The Church At Brook Hills as well as the author of Radical.  If you have not read Radical, it is a must read, and beware…you will never be the same again!

I have never heard Platt speak before, but he wrecked my comfortable little world and has made me re-think the EpicParent vision!

Here are my 3 take aways from Platt’s talk.

Parents must…

Teach their kids to treasure Christ more than possessions of the world: I’m guilty!  I have taught my kiddos to treasure athletics,  comfort, education, popular culture, church, honesty, character, integrity, spiritual living, serving others, and 80′s hair bands.  But Christ?  Above their possessions?  Parents, we must teach our kids to treasure Christ more than X-box, Justin Bieber, girlfriends, clothes, texting, their car, and popularity.

Teach their kids that God is more important than their family: I’m guilty!  But I truly love my family!  I have taught my kids that blood runs thicker than water, I gloat over their successes, agonize over their failures, dream about their future, and I work very hard at parenting well.  But the reality is, that many times I idolize my family and give them the seat that should only be occupied by God.

Teach their kids to love God enough so that they will gladly leave home: I’m not guilty!  I am aggressively trying to get Team Sprad out the door!  My 13 year old leaves next week.  Not really, but I love this point!   As parents, we should be training our kids to be so missionally minded, others’ focused and Jesus centered that when the time comes for them to leave they should be begging to leave and impact the world for Christ.  Mom and Dad, lets prepare our kids to change the world when they leave the casa.

Great, challenging and life wrecking and re-arranging thoughts, but here is the twist.  As parents, we don’t have the ability to pass down what we are not living out.  So maybe the question should be…mom and dad, are you living this out?

Would love to hear your thoughts?  Do you think that idolizing your family is wrong?

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