I get it, I want my kids to be successful too. Every one of us kind of figure out our version of success and then determine what should “work” to get us there.
You may think successful people are wealthy…so you teach your kids there are things they must do in order to be “successful,” like go to college or develop a good work ethic.
You may think successful people are intelligent…so you encourage your kids to do activities that increase intelligence, like working hard in school or reading lots of literature.
You may think successful people are healthy…so you have your kids do things that promote personal health, like exercise or making wise food choices.
You may think successful people are attractive. As subjective as this is we still want our kids to do things that make them more attractive. We get them braces, buy them nice clothes, some parents even pay for plastic surgery.
What is even more interesting is we obsess to attain things that will eventually be taken from us.
Your health, wealth, and prosperity will be taken from you one day. If all of your security is in something that is absolutely going to erode away, like a sand castle on the beach, all the “security” you have invested in will erode too.
I am not saying that we shouldn’t help our kids live a good life! I am just saying if we teach them that our very temporal “success process” will satisfy the deepest parts of their heart, they will be left wanting.
From the ancient Pharaohs who were buried with their wealth to modern cryogenics, history is filled with humanity desperately trying to make the temporal last just a little longer.
Jesus did not come to make you materially wealthy, prosperous, or have great teeth. He came to put in your hands a security that you can carry beyond the grave. A plan, a purpose that, well…really works. A hope that is greater than money, influence, or health.
When the water of time and entropic decay wash away the sand castles you have spent your life building, what will remain?
“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom 6:23
