In a couple of recent posts I wrote about questions our kids ask and using questions to teach our kids. Do your kids ever ask questions to which you do not have good answers? Or questions that stretch the limits of your knowledge? We looked at the issue of security about a week ago; I have had many men over the years tell me that they did not want to get involved in teaching because they did not want to get asked questions for which they did not have answer. As men we do not like to look weak, uninformed, incompetent; as we looked at in Genesis 1:28, we were created for the assignment to rule over the world, the curse in Genesis 3:17 – 19 makes that a real chore. As a result rather than risking exposing our inadequacy, we tend to protect ourselves by avoiding situations that threaten that exposure. That is especially true when it comes to our family. We do not want to be seen by our children as inadequate.
The reality is that no matter how much you know, how much you have prepared, how many books or blogs you read on leading your children, at some point you are going to be asked a question or confronted with a situation for which you are not prepared. We get rattled when that happens for at least a couple of reasons. First, as outlined above we are trying to avoid people finding out we are inadequate. That is a symptom of measuring our worth by what we know or do, not by our standing in Christ. Second, and this is probably related to the first, we think that a teacher has to have all of the answers. That is just wrong. Not just wrong, impossible.
All of us are on a journey. That journey is one of continual learning of the riches we have been given in Christ. We learn by getting to know Him better. We learn by sharing that experience in community with our families and our friends. Questions, for which we have no good answers, are gifts, invitations to admit we need our Lord and others on this journey. The answer to those questions always begins with something like, “You know what, I do not know, let’s look at the Bible together and see if we can figure it out.”
The reality is that no matter how much you know, how much you have prepared, how many books or blogs you read on leading your children, at some point you are going to be asked a question or confronted with a situation for which you are not prepared. We get rattled when that happens for at least a couple of reasons. First, as outlined above we are trying to avoid people finding out we are inadequate. That is a symptom of measuring our worth by what we know or do, not by our standing in Christ. Second, and this is probably related to the first, we think that a teacher has to have all of the answers. That is just wrong. Not just wrong, impossible.
All of us are on a journey. That journey is one of continual learning of the riches we have been given in Christ. We learn by getting to know Him better. We learn by sharing that experience in community with our families and our friends. Questions, for which we have no good answers, are gifts, invitations to admit we need our Lord and others on this journey. The answer to those questions always begins with something like, “You know what, I do not know, let’s look at the Bible together and see if we can figure it out.”
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