Setting A Good Example For Our Children

I found the following article on the "Girl Talk" blog and found it very thought provoking. I know I struggle to lead by example at times and I found this article a helpful reminder of how God calls us to lead our children by our actions not only our words. 

“The example of parents, for good or ill, is an influence more profound than can be measured,” observes author Elisabeth Elliot.

Your children “will seldom learn habits which they see you despise, or walk in paths in which you do not walk yourself,” warns J.C. Ryle. “[She] that preaches to [her] children what [she] does not practice, is working a work that never goes forward.”

Paul Tripp agrees that if we talk about Christ’s love and the Bible but live selfish, angry, materialistic lives, then we are saying with our example that God’s truth is only a façade. “Our children will tend to dismiss or despise the very Gospel we say is of paramount importance,” he writes. “They will tend to reject the God we have so poorly represented, and they too, will end up serving the idols of the surrounding culture.”

Everything we teach our children will stand or fall by our example. Therefore our example must precede our instruction, less our instruction be in vain.

So ask yourself: What does my example say to my children about the truth of God’s Word?  Am I walking in paths where I want my children to follow?

While a poor example will dishonor the gospel, the godly example of a mother is among the most profound forces in human history.