How to Motivate Your Son to Follow Christ
[Guest Post by Rhonda Stoppe – Whenever I meet a fellow Harvest House author I am excited to connect and have him or her share their story on Devotional Diva. If you are a mom of a boy or boys, you will appreciate this how-to!]
How can I motivate my son to want to follow Christ?
Moms ask me all the time, How can I get my son to want to follow Christ? My answer? You cannot coerce, manipulate, or even reward your son enough to make him want to live in full abandon to Christ. You can however, live in a manner that makes following Christ irresistible!
Your son–as well as his generation–longs to see what genuine Christianity looks like. They are aching for someone to lay down all the trivial cares of life and show them, by example, how to live completely sold out for Christ. Your son can come to understand the infinite importance of surrendering his future to the Lord if he sees you living with total abandon for Christ. And your son will learn to joyfully expect the Lord to direct his future as well.
In her book A Woman After God’s Own Heart, Elizabeth George penned the cry of my heart: “I am in fear of missing what God has for me in this life. I don’t want to be robbed of even one of God’s riches by not taking time to let Him invade my life…”
And I am equally concerned that my sons not miss any opportunities to serve the Lord in their lives.
When Christ “invades your life,” what spills over is a passion for Him and for His kingdom purposes. Your son will not be able to ignore your message if it flows from a genuine longing to honor the Lord in all you do.
To let Christ invade your life, you may need to do a little housecleaning. To determine whether you are serious about living in a manner that will inspire your son to live for Christ ask yourself these questions:
+ Am I willing to forfeit relationships that do not honor the Lord?
+ Am I willing to refuse to be entertained by anything that is contrary to God’s commands?
+ Am I willing to forsake all activities or opportunities that would draw me away from wholehearted obedience to Christ?
Your willingness to lay aside anything that besets your passionate pursuit of Christ and to His leading will not only set an example for your son to follow, but create an appetite in him to do the same.
To make a lasting impression on your son, you must be set on fire by the single most glorious purpose of life–to know Christ and joyfully exhibit His greatness in all areas of life!” (Excerpt Moms Raising Sons to Be Men, Stoppe pg 188)
Rhonda Stoppe’s book Moms Raising Sons To Be Men is selling 1000 copies per month mentoring thousands of moms to guide sons toward a no regrets life. With over 20 years experience of helping women build a No Regrets Life as a pastor’s wife, speaker, and author, Rhonda has helped women to impact the moral fiber of the next generation by raising children with integrity, and become more influential than they ever dreamed possible. To follow Rhonda’s blog, free resources for no-regret parenting, or to book Rhonda for your next Women’s event visit www.NoRegretsWoman.com or “like” her page on Facebook.
[Photo: JefferyTurner via photopin cc]