Posted in Train Up A Child Thursday

 Train Up A Child Thursday. Or, What we're working on these days.

            With 5 children under the age of 10, what are we NOT working on. That’s my trouble half the time, trying to keep it all straight!  So here is a positive training in what seems to be a sea of negative training. Something I try to incorporate as much as possible every day with every child.  I forget where I first got the idea, but someone gave it to me.  Like all my good ideas!  We call it "Cha-Ching" and it’s all about storing up treasures in heaven.

            Jesus says, in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

            We want our children to have an eternal focus. To be able to look beyond the temporal and see the eternal.  But how to do that on a day in and day out basis with the mundane things of life?  What does it Mean to store up treasures in heaven? What does that look like for a 3 year old? For a 13 year old? For a 33 year old?  How can we actively practice what our Lord commands?

         Storing up treasures in heaven, for our children, means considering the preciousness of others.  It means thinking of others first, of acting or speaking in a kind and loving way.  So when I catch one of our children choosing the low place, or using kind words, or sharing a favorite toy, or showing initiative or responsibility, etc., I give them a big smile and a cheerful “Cha-Ching! You’re storing up treasures in heaven!”  Sometimes I will be a little goofy and gush about how the angels are marveling at how kind they were, or what cheerful obedience they demonstrated or how thoughtful they were and how their words or actions were “just like Jesus’”  We want Jesus to be our standard of excellence, we want them to learn to think in terms of what He would have them do or say in any given situation.

            We want our children to learn from an early age to be God-pleasers, not man pleasers. To do everything to the honor and glory of God, not because good manners and obedience will get them what they want in life.  A high and lofty goal!  A small tool to help!  Begin as you mean to go.