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Key Bible Verse: Follow my example and do as I do (1 Corinthians 4:16). Bonus Reading: 1 Corinthians 4:14-16

Do our lifestyles leave something that our children must overcome, or are we blazing a godly path for them to follow? If we veer off course even by 15 degrees, and our kids maintain that direction, and their kids follow them, the entire family line will be thrown radically off track.

I remember praying for my son, Graham. The Lord seemed to interrupt my prayer with these words: "You must become what you're praying for Graham to become." God seemed to be telling me that, while He felt eager to answer my prayers on Graham's behalf, He also intended to use me to bring about those answers. If I want Graham to be a man of prayer, I must first become a man of prayer myself.

I don't feel quite as confident as Paul did, telling others to "follow my example." I hope that Graham, Allison, and Kelsey will surpass me in some areas of character. But my confidence, or lack of it, isn't the point—the reproduction already is taking place. So I must ask myself, What am I going to do about it?

We can't avoid leaving ruts. To have a child is to influence another life. But in what directions will our ruts carry our children?

—Gary Thomas in Sacred Parenting

My Response: Am I providing trustworthy direction I want my kids to follow?

Thought to Apply: If there is anything that we wish to change in our children, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.—CARL JUNG (Swiss psychologist & psychiatrist)

Adapted from Sacred Parenting (Zondervan, 2004) by permission.

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Thank you, Father, for using my children to reveal where it is I need to grow up, and to push me to put their needs ahead of my own.

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