Living for Christ at Home: An Encouragement for Teensنموونە

Solomon writes to his son in Proverbs 23:26: "My son, give me your heart." For many teenagers, this sounds strange. What does it mean to "give our hearts" to our parents?

The truth is that one of the most vital pieces of any parent-child relationship is heart connection. A heart connection produces a relationship of openness, honesty, and trust. Your parents want this kind of relationship with you. As teenagers, we often dictate how much of our hearts we choose to share with our parents.

If God calls us to give our hearts to our parents, then why is it so difficult to talk to them about what is going on in our lives? Imagine this scenario: You are coming home from youth group, and the second you walk in the door, your mom says, “How was youth group tonight?” Your automatic response may be to give the shortest answer possible and avoid a long conversation. This answer is probably not because you dislike your parents. You are simply giving a default reply without really thinking about it.

Our culture would say this is a normal part of adolescence and that we should not pursue a close relationship with our parents. However, this is a spiritual attack aimed at our heart connection with our parents.

Your parents are called by God to point you to Christ, and as a result, they have the most influence over your heart. When we are spiritually connected with our parents, we are better prepared to face attacks against our faith. Our parents can help us grow in our faith and maturity as we venture into adult life. We have a crisis in our generation, with many turning away from faith in God and His Word. This is not a problem with our church youth groups or children’s programs; it is a problem of the family and brokenness in parent-child relationships. This is why he will do everything in his power to keep you from sharing your heart with your parents.

Many of us wish to give our hearts to our parents, but the essential question is: how? We must pray and ask God to soften our hearts toward our parents. Then we must start somewhere! Like anything in life, the more you practice sharing your life and being honest with your parents, the more it will seem normal and natural. A start could be something as small as giving your parents real answers when they ask questions about your life. Tell them when you feel stressed or anxious. Build the habit of asking your parents to pray for you and asking how you can pray for them. Learn to forgive fully and often. One of the most destructive elements of all relationships is holding on to past hurts. It is so easy to nurture a spirit of bitterness toward our parents. We must pray and ask God to give us a heart of forgiveness in order to rebuild our heart connection with them.

“Lord, soften my heart toward my parents. Please help me to give my heart to them even when it is hard and I don’t want to. I pray against any spiritual attack in our relationship and that you would fill my heart with openness and love toward my parents. Amen.”

Next steps: Download the complete Bible study book “Living for Christ at Home” at VisionaryFam.com/Home