How can you talk to your child about God? As dads, we often blow it. Dealing with our failings as fathers is crucial. How we handle our mistakes will point our kids to God our not. In our mistakes, we have a great opportunity to show our kids the Christian life.

If you could sit with someone for a few minutes to talk about fatherhood, who would it be? My choice might just be Dr. Paul D. Tripp. He’s one of my favorite counselors and authors. His counseling books have been balm to my soul and have equipped me to help others.

Read or watch as Tripp talks openly about:

  • two things he wished his dad taught him
  • how dads can love God
  • how dads can love others
  • how dads can point their kids to God through everyday life

Find encouragement to live differently as a dad so you point your kids to God.

 

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” —Psalm 51

 

 

About Dr. Paul David Tripp

paul tripps

Dr. Paul D. Tripp is a pastor, event speaker, and a best-selling author. With more than 30 books to his name, Paul’s driving passion is to connect the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life.

He and his wife Luella live in Philadelphia; they have four grown children. Read or watch the full version of what Paul had to say about his dad below.

 

 

 

 

Paul Tripp on how to talk to your child about God: Two things my dad never taught me

My dad taught me a lot of great life skills, but a father’s most important task is to prepare his sons and daughters for life by introducing them to a relationship with God and warning them about relationships with other people.

My dad never did that. That’s why I would love for you to watch this video or read the entire transcript below.

My dad did a great job of imparting some everyday skills, but he didn’t prepare me for the weightier things of life. I would characterize that as relationship with God and relationships with people.

I think one of the best ways to prepare your son or daughter for life is to help them as early as possible to be enthralled with the stunning glory and grace of God. Talk about God all the time; blow their mind with the glory of God.

You’ll have plenty of opportunities.

If you’re building something, stop and talk about the grain of wood. Talk about how beautiful wood is, and how that beauty came out of the mind of God.

If you’re nailing something, talk about the force of a hammer and all the physics that goes on there that came out of the mind of God.

If you’re fishing, remind your child of how different a trout looks from a bass. Tell them that that came out of the mind of God.

As you’re watching the sun set, talk about the God who rules the day and the night.

This is the Father’s world. This is God’s world; this world is meant to point to him. Your son and daughter may not see Him; there’s a good possibility that they won’t. But the more your child is enthralled with God, the more likely they will be to give themselves to Him.

What could be more important than that?

Then there’s the second great command – love of others.

Human relationships are hard; love is hard. But listen, love is hard not because I’m surrounded by creepy people. Love is hard because of what’s inside of my heart. I’m judgmental. I’m critical. I’m unforgiving. I’m proud. I’m competitive. I’m greedy. I’m envious. All of those are anti-social instincts.

I wish I had a dad who said to me,

“Son, you’re going to be leaving this home, you’re going to be building relationships, and the greatest danger to those relationships is you. There are some things inside of you that God desires to help you with, that God sent His Son to rescue you from. And the more you face those, the more you’ll become a person of love, and the more you become a person of love, the more you’ll live a life of blessing.”

I never had those conversations with my father. Oh, I learned a lot of helpful skills. But in many ways, I didn’t know myself and I wasn’t filled with the awe of God, in the way that would have so much better prepared me for life.

 

 

Dr. Tripp wrote about the two most important lessons for dads and I found it resonated with me. I found myself thinking of two things related to how to talk to your child about God. I thought of my dad as Paul talked about his dad. Then, by the end of the video, I found myself thinking—what if my kids were making a video like Paul’s about me?!

I’m grateful for Dr. Tripp’s honesty. Dads aren’t perfect. You know this—if you’re a dad! Dr. Tripp’s story about should challenge and encourage you. Why? Because God is God. Tripp’s dad wasn’t perfect. Neither are you. But God is gracious and merciful.

Are you fighting the wrong battles as a dad? As a Christian dad, our role is to know the enemy and fight that enemy. How well we do this will be our legacy. Remember, we are in a spiritual battle for the hearts of our kids. Our number one job is protecting the family. We are often fighting our wife, our kids or our co-workers when we should be fighting the invisible enemy.

When we blow it, and we will. We are to model repentance, confession, and living in freedom we find in Christ. There is joy on the other side of failure, brothers.

Look at Psalm 51. David sinned in life. Then, David writes this pslam longing and praying for God to fix it. For God to cleanse him from his mistakes and “create a clean heart” in him. Brothers, if you know Christ, you’ve been given a new life. There is freedom is Jesus.

Understanding that when we make mistakes, our example should be to repent and confess and live in the grace we’ve been given—maybe our kids can say they saw that example in their home.

 

 

Your mission

#1 How have you blown it as a dad? Think through how and who you’ve blown it with recently? Wife, kids, boss?

#2 What if your kids made a video about your fathering like Paul Tripp did here? What would they say—good or bad?

#3 Read Psalm 51. Taking note of how David handled his sins with God.

#4 Remember and take comfort, God can change your mistakes into wins.

 

 

 

More resources on how to talk to your child about God

Read these posts to gain insight into talking about God to your child.

 

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