Leslie Fields, "Parenting Is Your Highest Calling", 자녀교육의 키워드는 행복이 아닌 거룩이다

Myth 4 Good parenting leads to happy children

(they) regard happiness as the primary measure of a child’s spirituality and obedience. (83)

If God’s first concern for his children is their happiness, then many stories in the Bible need to be rewritten… God’s first concern is always his children’s holiness, not their happiness. (86)

We live in what David Wells has called a “therapeutic culture,” in which we favor relationship over morality.

God’s holiness is not simply one attribute among many. Holiness permeates his very being. As Wells warns, without some understanding of the holiness of God, “our faith loses its meaning entirely.” (87)

Holiness is the way to happiness…. The happiness that comes from knowing and delighting in God. (88-89)

The most blessed among us are not those who are fully satisfied, content, and spiritually self-sustaining, but those who are broken, who want, who need, who long for what is promised. (91)

Even if I did all that I can as a Christian parent – even if I were that good – there would still be holes in my children’s lives, places for God to fill and heal. (92)

“The tree is too protected. It needs the wind to strengthen its fibers. It needs the wind to make it strong.”

Reflection

1.     What outside voices pressure you to parent for your child’s immediate happiness?

2.     What thoughts and emotions do you experience when your child is unhappy?

3.     Describe a time in your own life when God parented you for the sake of your holiness, beyond your desire for immediate happiness. How did you react at the time? What are your reflections about that situation now?

1 John 4:16; Hebrews 12:14, 28-29

4.     In what ways have you seen God’s love emphasized to the exclusion of his holiness, perhaps even in your own life?

5.     In God’s relationship with us, are these two characteristics -love and holiness-mutually exclusive or interdependent? Explain your answer.

Matthew 5:1-10

6.     Consider each blessing in verses 3-10. How are these blessings similar or different from how you usually hope and pray for your child?

7.     Consider each promise given in verses 3-10. How are these promises similar to or different from what you want for your child?

8.     In what circumstances do you find it most tempting to parent for your child’s happiness rather that for her holiness?

9.     What is one practical way you can parent for your child’s blessing rather than for her immediate happiness this week?