What Is the Daily Aim of Parenting?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - We're honored to be joined by author
00:00:06.700 | and speaker Paul Tripp, and he joins us one last time.
00:00:10.260 | Paul, as a parent, I think of parenting as painting.
00:00:14.320 | Each day I put one dab of paint on a canvas.
00:00:17.840 | I hope it's the right color, I hope it's in the right spot.
00:00:21.000 | But parenting brings with it a lot of uncertainty
00:00:23.920 | and insecurity and self-doubt.
00:00:27.000 | As a parent with experience, what would you say
00:00:29.840 | is the goal of day in and day out parenting?
00:00:33.880 | - If I would say, this is big deal
00:00:39.760 | of parenting to be two things.
00:00:43.680 | The first one is authority.
00:00:46.320 | Children must early understand that they've been born
00:00:51.120 | into a world of authority and they're not it.
00:00:54.960 | The sooner a child submits to that,
00:00:57.800 | the more blessed his life is gonna be.
00:00:59.920 | And so my children don't belong to me, they belong to God.
00:01:04.080 | He's the ultimate owner and authority.
00:01:06.560 | That means that I'm a representative
00:01:09.880 | and ambassador of the authority of God.
00:01:12.680 | I'm the tone of God's voice as a parent.
00:01:15.000 | I'm the look on his face, I'm the touch of his hand.
00:01:17.880 | Now, this will make you weak in your knees.
00:01:21.360 | Here's what this means.
00:01:22.440 | It means every time I exercise authority
00:01:26.000 | in the lives of my children,
00:01:27.720 | in all those mundane little circumstances,
00:01:30.840 | it must be a beautiful picture of the authority of God.
00:01:34.040 | Because I want the children to see authority as beautiful
00:01:38.240 | and giving and serving and loving and compassionate
00:01:42.840 | and patient and gracious 'cause that's the authority of God.
00:01:46.240 | Because children are born with a natural antipathy
00:01:49.080 | toward authority, a natural hatred of authority.
00:01:52.000 | And I want to depict authority in its divine beauty
00:01:57.760 | so that they will say, "Authority is a good thing.
00:02:01.400 | "Authority is a wise thing.
00:02:02.920 | "Authority is a protective thing.
00:02:04.760 | "Authority doesn't crush my freedom, it gives me freedom."
00:02:07.520 | So that's a big deal.
00:02:10.080 | Here's a second thing that I know as a parent,
00:02:13.520 | there are mysteries of the universe
00:02:16.600 | that if you don't understand these mysteries,
00:02:19.720 | you won't be what you're supposed to be
00:02:21.720 | and you won't do what you're supposed to do.
00:02:25.000 | The ultimate of that mystery is the mystery of the grace
00:02:29.240 | of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Christ.
00:02:32.840 | But there are many, many mysteries,
00:02:34.280 | the mystery of the sovereignty of God,
00:02:36.180 | many, many of these mysteries.
00:02:38.720 | Well, I want to download those mysteries to my children.
00:02:42.100 | So I'm always looking for opportunities
00:02:45.320 | to take the mundane moment
00:02:47.600 | and unfold one of these mysteries to my children.
00:02:50.880 | They're not in control, life is not about them.
00:02:53.880 | Love of neighbor is an important thing.
00:02:56.600 | Stewardship of resources is something God calls me to.
00:03:00.640 | We live in a world that's not just a world of authority,
00:03:02.600 | it's a world of grace.
00:03:03.480 | So I'm looking for all these opportunities
00:03:06.000 | to unfold the mysteries that have been trusted to me
00:03:10.600 | through the ministry of the Spirit,
00:03:12.240 | through the word of God to my children
00:03:14.720 | so they begin to understand things
00:03:17.640 | that become the tracks on which human life
00:03:20.840 | that was meant to be lived is lived.
00:03:23.640 | And here's what I need to know,
00:03:25.800 | that if my eyes ever see and my ears ever hear
00:03:29.560 | the sin, weakness and failure of my children,
00:03:31.740 | it's never an accident, it's never an interruption,
00:03:35.720 | it's never a hassle, it's always grace.
00:03:38.280 | God loves those children,
00:03:39.880 | he's put them in a family of faith,
00:03:41.800 | he will reveal their need to me as a parent
00:03:45.120 | so I can be a tool of his authority
00:03:48.280 | and his truth and his wisdom and his grace.
00:03:50.760 | That's the system.
00:03:52.280 | And so God will always give you more opportunities,
00:03:55.680 | you do the work in little moments,
00:03:57.520 | it's always unfinished because change is a process
00:04:00.160 | and not an event.
00:04:01.120 | You have the wonderful position, this is amazing to me,
00:04:05.440 | of being a tool in God's hands
00:04:08.480 | for the forming of a human soul.
00:04:11.240 | What could be more exciting than that?
00:04:13.600 | - Amen.
00:04:14.440 | We are done now but I would love for you to return
00:04:16.600 | and talk more about parenting with us in the future
00:04:18.800 | and perhaps we can do a whole week on it.
00:04:20.840 | But we are done for the week and sadly our time
00:04:22.720 | with Paul Tripp is done for now.
00:04:24.520 | Paul is the author of many books,
00:04:26.040 | including the one we've been talking about
00:04:27.440 | for the last couple of weeks titled "Sex and Money."
00:04:31.280 | Be sure to check it out.
00:04:32.660 | Well, Monday, John Piper is back in the hot seat
00:04:35.140 | answering your tough questions.
00:04:37.440 | I'm your host Tony Reinke,
00:04:38.280 | thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:04:40.760 | Have a wonderful weekend.
00:04:42.040 | (upbeat music)
00:04:44.620 | (upbeat music)
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