Kids Grow Through Difficulties

Parents, are you teaching your kids to count the cost of following Jesus? They need to know that followers of Jesus are expected to encounter opposition and hostility. In the beatitudes, Jesus tells us, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” We must realize that in the midst of opposition, God is galvanizing our faith and the faith of our children. In her book 10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask and Answer About Christianity, Rebecca McLaughlin writes, “the Christian faith sprang up in a world that was violently hostile to its claims. But rather than extinguishing the small spark of the early church, the winds of opposition gave it oxygen to spread.” Pray that your kids would grow through their difficulties.